Life with Lyrics Lovino Style
by yellow blaze
Summary: Human AU Lovino struggles with what he believes is a one-sided crush and his completely oblivious, also entirely too cheerful, brother. Mentions of suicide, but not a death fic!
1. Study hall is for napping

This fanfiction is written in companion with the following:

Companion fanfiction:

Life with Lyrics (Canada/Cuba) (sort of a songfic. When a song fits, it's added at any rate.)

Life with Lyrics- British Style (England and America)

Life with Lyrics- Lovino Style (Spain and S. Italy)

Life with Lyrics- AWESOME Style (Prussia/Austria)

Constructive Criticism welcome, k?

Disclaimer: Do not own Hetalia.

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><p>Lovino held his head in frustration. His brother just would not <em>shut up!<em> He opened one eye and looked at his twin brother, who was rapidly talking about goodness-knows-what. Lovino rolled his eyes, he had long given up on trying to keep up with the conversation. "Why does this have to be study hall?" Lovino moaned, hitting his head on his desk, not wanting to listen to the conversation anymore.

"Awh, Lovino, but first class study hall is awesome! We don't have to do our homework at home, we can just do it here!" Feliciano smiled cheerfully.

"I do my homework at home." Lovino glared at him. He half-wished someone would text him so he would at least have an excuse to not listen, but everyone he knew was in class at the moment.

Feliciano pouted, "Fine. I'll go talk to Ludwig." He stood up and skipped back to the blonde german's seat, sitting in the empty chair in front of his desk.

Lovino watched as Feliciano and Ludwig began talking, Feliciano was a lot more of an animated talker than Ludwig was.

Lovino shook his head and laid his head down on his desk. At least now he could think in peace and quiet. Sort of. His brother's voice could still be heard, but at least it wasn't right next to him anymore.

Lovino jumped slightly when he realized his phone was going off and picked up the small device and looked at the message in confusion. His heart leapt slightly when he saw it was Antonio. _'Don't get disappointed if he asks about Feli…'_ Lovino braced himself and opened the text message.

_**Lovi~ hey hey, Feli isn't answering his phone! Tell him to text me back would you? Thanks!**_

Lovino stared at the text message before looking back at his brother. Feli probably had left his phone at home again. Watching the conversation go back and forth, Lovino decided he'd just act like he had never gotten the text and laid his head back down on his desk. _'Good time to take a nap.'_ Lovino closed his eyes, but instead of sleeping, his mind drifted to the Spanish boy who had texted him. Lovino clenched his teeth together and cursed inwardly. Antonio was the last person he wanted to think of right now. _'Stupid spanish bastard. Of course, I don't mind at all that you text me just trying to get hold of stupid Feliciano. What the heck do I care?'_ Lovino let a quiet sigh escape and half-opened his eyes, staring at the empty seat that was next to him. _'What the heck do I care. Stupid love…triangle. I like Antonio, Antonio likes Feli, and Feli likes Ludwig. This is setting several people up for heartbreak.'_ Lovino looked at the reflection that was in the window. He could see Ludwig shaking his head about something Feli had just said, causing the other Italian to laugh. _'I wonder if that german bastard even likes Feli. I should ask.'_ Lovino made a face and started thinking about what to say, if he even got up the nerve to ask at all. _'If he likes Feliciano, then that means Antonio might give up on Feli, right? Not that it matters because he never gives me a second glance anyway!' _Lovino pouted and buried his face into his arms. _'Stupid Spanish bastard.'_ He heard his phone go off again and glared at the sender of the text message. It was Antonio again. Of course it was, who else would it be?

Lovino opened the text message and glared at it.

_**Lovi? Are you there? Did you forget your phone or something? Wake up Lovi~**_

Lovino shoved his phone into his pocket and buried his face into his arms again. _'Find some other way to get hold of your crush. Idiot.'_ Finally feeling sleep coming, Lovino relaxed a bit and succumbed to the short nap he had been trying to take since he had arrived in the classroom.

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><p>Yay, first chapter of all the companion fanfics are done 3 review? It'll get better, honest. =w=;<p> 


	2. Stupid fever

Aaaaand here we go. Thanks to those who left a review! And the ninjas who added it to alert without reviewing, I guess I can take that as a positive review? Anyway, moving on~

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><p>"Veee~ Lovi, wake up the bell is gonna ring soon!"<p>

Lovino opened one eye in annoyance at his brother, "It would have been fine with the bell as an alarm clock. I was enjoying that nap."

"Oh, I'm sorry! But sometimes you sleep through the bell, and I wanted to make sure you didn't this time!" Feliciano pouted a bit.

"Fine whatever." Lovino sighed, stretching his arms out. He dug out his phone and discovered he now had three new messages, "Did you forget your phone or something?"

"Nope, right here." Feliciano held it up happily, "Huh? Oh I have a new message? Oh it's from Antonio!"

"One?" Lovino blinked at his brother.

"Yeah just one." Feliciano shrugged.

Lovino glared at his cell phone, "Then why does he send me six?"

"Veeeeeee~ maybe he likes you!" Feli clapped his hands together excitedly.

Lovino just gaped at him. _'My brother is an idiot.'_

Ludwig tapped a notebook on the top of Feliciano's head, "The bell rang."

"Did it?" Feli looked up at Ludwig, startled, "I didn't hear it."

"Not over that squeal you just made." Lovino stood up and stalked out of the room, with his brother and Ludwig following behind. Lovino gritted his teeth in anger at his brother's statement. _'Maybe he likes you…OH PLEASE.'_ Lovino rubbed a hand through his brown hair in annoyance at how dense Feliciano was, "This is unbelievable…"

"But Antonio comes over so often~ and and he really enjoys talking to you, I think!" Feliciano popped up beside him, chattering on.

Lovino could feel himself reaching boiling point and sent a silent thank you to Ludwig when the blonde interrupted his brother.

"Feli…even if Antonio did like your brother, I don't think you should bother him with it." Ludwig commented, "That's between him and Antonio."

'_I take back that thank you.'_ Lovino glared at the german, but he seemed oblivious to it.

"Ve…oh I'm sorry Lovi! Oh, I know! I'll go ask Antonio!" Feliciano skipped off before Lovino could recover from his shock.

"Wait, he's going to WHAT?" Lovino freaked out and ran after him, "DON'T YOU DARE!"

Ludwig tilted his head and stared after them in confusion, "Are all Italians that energetic?"

"Dammit Feli! Get back here!" Lovino chased after his brother angrily.

"I wanna ask Antonio!" Feli smiled cheerfully back at his brother.

"Don't, I said!" Lovino grabbed him by the arm, "Geez!"

"But you two would be so cute!" Feliciano pouted.

"No we wouldn't." Lovino said flatly.

"Yes you would!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"What are you two fighting about?" Antonio appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, next to Feli.

"NOTHING." Lovino cut in before Feli could say anything.

Feliciano pouted at Lovino, but his brother ignored it.

"I'm going to class." Lovino stalked past Feliciano, strangling the air in front of him when he made it past Antonio and his brother. Turning the corner, Lovino let out a sigh, "Why does he have to be so dense…they both are…seriously…" Lovino's shoulders drooped a bit and he dragged his feet to his next class. He wasn't very fond of it, and wished it wasn't even on his schedule at all.

"Stupid history class…it's boring, and even worse, we're studying roman gods. What's the point?" Lovino was half-tempted to fake being sick and hide in the nurse's office, but she would probably get suspicious. It wouldn't be the first time he had skipped this class.

"Maybe I can get some sleep…" Lovino wandered into the classroom and plopped down in his seat, conveniently in the back row. It was perfect for when they were watching slideshows, because the teacher never moved from his desk, which meant Lovino could sleep the entire time.

Today however was…

"Pop quiz!" The teacher announced once all the students had mingled in and sat down.

"Dammit." Lovino groaned. He hadn't paid attention at all during the last lecture they had, and apparently most other students didn't either judging by the reaction the teacher got.

"Now if you all have paid attention during the slides, this should be very easy. If you haven't, then your grades will suffer." The teacher smiled and passed the papers back.

Lovino winced and looked at the paper he was handed. Picking up his pencil and ignoring the dread that was settling in his stomach, Lovino looked over the first question. _'Well at least I know this one. Off to a good start.'_ Lovino almost slammed his pencil down in annoyance when he realized his pocket was vibrating. Fishing out his phone, he held it under the desk and glanced at the text message.

_**Lovi! Hey hey, why'd you walk away so fast? I wanted to talk to you D: -Antonio**_

Lovino shoved the phone back in his pocket without answering and continued taking the test. _'Sure you did. That's why you texted me six times to ask me why Feliciano wasn't answering his phone.'_ Lovino continued taking the test, glancing up now and then as he thought about one. He noticed the classmate to his left was texting almost the entire time so far and tilted his head before turning his gaze back to his own paper. _'I wonder if he's texting to get the answers from someone in another class? That's risky though…the chances of getting caught is…high.'_

Lovino noticed the teacher was standing right behind his neighboring classmate and hurriedly began scribbling on his paper. _'What am I panicking for? I wasn't doing anything wrong!'_ He could see out of his peripheral vision that the teacher was finding great amusement in whatever was displayed on the phone.

'_He is so in trouble…'_ Lovino thought with a sigh. He flipped the paper over, expecting more questions but found it blank, "Oh was that it?" He flipped the test back over and re-read his answers. Shrugging, and not caring anymore, Lovino flipped it so it was blank-side-up and pushed it to the corner of his desk.

"Done with your test? I will take your phone, too." The teacher took the paper off his neighbor's desk and held out the other hand for the cell phone.

The student just gaped up at him, completely in shock that the teacher had been standing there.

Lovino sighed and closed his eyes. _'Nap time…'_

"Lovino, are you not feeling well? Your face is pale."

Lovino opened one eye and found the teacher standing next to him, now. "I feel fine." He looked up at the teacher in confusion.

"Go to the nurse's office anyway. Better safe than sorry." The teacher picked up his test paper and moved away, leaving no room for argument.

Lovino banged his head on the desk in frustration but grabbed his books and stalked out of the room shortly after, "Dammit. I should have just skipped." He slowed down once he was in the hallway, suddenly feeling light-headed from the rapid movement.

"Don't tell me I really am sick. I cursed myself…" Lovino sighed heavily, dragging his feet towards the nurse's office. He blinked as Alfred came out of it, supporting Matthew—was that his name?—but shrugged it off and walked past them without saying anything. They were too busy arguing anyway.

"Lovino? What brings you down here?" The nurse looked at him skeptically.

"A paranoid teacher." Lovino snapped in response.

"All right, sit down. You do look pale. Let me take your temperature." The nurse fished out a thermometer and plopped it in Lovino's mouth, without waiting for consent.

Lovino glared daggers at the nurse while her back was turned. He leaned back against the wall, waiting for the timer to be up and noticed Antonio was standing out in the hall, staring at him. Lovino made a gesture with his hand for Antonio to get lost and quickly dropped his hand when the nurse turned around again.

Antonio, instead, peered in the doorway, "Is Lovi siiiick?" He smiled at the nurse cheerfully.

"We'll know in a minute." The nurse smiled at Antonio.

Lovino rolled his eyes. _'Of course the slacker is friends with the nurse.'_ Lovino wanted to curse at Antonio but resorted to glaring at him instead.

"Let's see…" The nurse took the thermometer and looked at the display, "Yup. You got a fever."

"Of course I do." Lovino grumbled, sinking in his seat.

"I'm going to send you home. Third one today…one with an injury, one on 'vacation', and one sick." The nurse shook her head with a sigh.

"Vacation?" Lovino repeated.

"Gilbert got suspended…" Antonio sighed, "There goes the fun…"

"Oh horrors." Lovino rolled his eyes, but he had to admit, the day would be much quieter without the albino…wait. "Wait, what? I'm going home?" Lovino gaped at the nurse.

"Of course you are. You can't stay in school with a fever. You need to go home, get plenty of rest, and drink some liquids." The nurse added as an afterthought.

"You must be joking, I have a test next class and I am not missing it." Lovino snapped. He was lying about the test, but there was no way he was going home sick. His brother would never let him forget it.

"You will be excused from the test. I am sending you home." The nurse returned the glare she was getting from the Italian and picked up the phone to dial his parents.

"Ugh…damn woman." Lovino slumped in the seat , defeated.

Antonio pouted, "Aw…it's gonna be quiet with both you and Gilbert gone for the day…"

"You have Feli to keep you company." Lovino snapped.

"He's always talking to the Ludwig guy." Antonio gave Lovino a strange look.

Lovino took the look as jealousy and gave it no further thought. "So, talk to him anyway. He'll respond."

"Alright your parents will be here shortly, Lovino! Just sit tight." The nurse smiled at him.

"What does that phrase even mean?" Lovino rolled his eyes, but remained where he was.

"I'll tell your brother you went home. Feel better soon, okay Lovi?" Antonio smiled and patted him on the head before quickly exiting.

"Stupid Spanish idiot!" Lovino yelled.

His dad showed up not ten minutes later, but Lovino was already fast asleep.

"Make sure he gets plenty of rest today." The nurse looked up from her desk.

Mr. Vargas nodded and carried Lovino piggy-back style out of the office.

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><p>Yeah, I wasn't planning on having three out of the four leave school early, and not really sure how it ended up that way, but it did. It'll work out later, honest. So, leave me a review, they fill me with joy. :T This chapter was longer at least.<p> 


	3. Stupid spanish bastard!

So this is the most popular out of the four companion fanfictions I'm writing! I'm…amazed actually. XD If anyone was wondering, the Canada/Cuba one is the least popular, pulling in a whopping 0 reviews. XD I laugh at that. Because it's the one I posted first. XD That pairing has such a small fanbase. Alas. This chapter may come off as confusing, hopefully not. It's going to be Antonio's pov and Lovino's pov in this chapter. For reasons that will become clear. Anyway, you might notice the rating went up, if you didn't:

Warning: Mentions of suicide *assembly speaker; don't laugh: I had one like this. Except mine was about drunk driving*

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><p>.<p>

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Lovino dragged himself out of bed the next morning. He had not been happy at all to discover he was carried home, thankfully by his dad and not Antonio, he would have never looked at the idiot again. Much less spoken to him. But now…what woke him up was of course his brother. Singing.

Lovino slapped a hand to his forehead in frustration. "Why so damn early?" Lovino stalked from the room, ignoring that he was wearing the same clothes from the day before, he really didn't care what anyone thought. Crossing the hallway and into the kitchen, Lovino noticed that no one else except his brother seemed to be up.

"Better." Lovino commented, opening the fridge door. _'Not that much milk left. Save it for Feli.'_ Lovino shut the fridge door again and instead opted for toast. He didn't really realize when he started changing what he would usually get in case Feliciano wanted the last of it. It just happened from experience that Feli would start crying. Of course they had been children then, and Feli had probably grown out of it now, but old habits were hard to break.

Lovino waited impatiently for the toaster to finish, probably burning the crap out of the bread. He grabbed a plastic container of grape tomatoes from the fridge and starting munching on one, still waiting for his toast to finish being charred to bits. The toaster seemed to hate him. He could have it on the lightest setting and it would still burn the bread.

By now, Lovino was used to burnt toast and ate it regularly. Something his brother could not stand. Apparently he had much more _sophisticated_ taste buds and couldn't eat something if it was burnt. Oh the spectacle that he had made when they ate out the one night…

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Antonio sat in the dining room, his arms stretched lazily out across the table. He had already finished eating, ahead of time for once, and was now waiting for a decent time to start heading to school. It wasn't that he wanted to see Lovino at all, though he was worried about him ever since he went home from school early. Of course he had asked Feliciano about it, but he didn't even realize his brother had been sick!

Antonio shook his head. Feliciano spaced out more than he did. He had study hall with him, didn't he? So how could he possibly not have noticed…then again. Ludwig had that study hall too. Oh that's how he didn't notice. Antonio bristled slightly at the thought of the german and stalked out the front door, completely forgetting his backpack in his anger.

"How can Gilbert be such a laid-back cool guy to be with…and Ludwig be such a. . .stuck-up, studious…person? Seriously…they both know german…they're completely opposite of each other! It's like yin and yong or whatever that phrase was." Antonio grumbled under his breath and continued walking.

He wouldn't mind Ludwig so much, if it wasn't for the fact that Feliciano was _always_ with him, or talking to him if they were in the same class. And if Feliciano was with Ludwig, that meant the classes that Lovino shared with the two of them, Lovino would be sitting off by himself. How could he even be content with that?

Antonio tilted his head slightly. He certainly didn't like being ignored, so he couldn't figure out how Lovino was fine with being by himself all the time. Maybe he just liked spending time with his thoughts.

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Lovino munched on the charred what-used-to-be-bread-not-even-toast. He was enjoying the face that his brother was making while he did so. Maybe that's why he liked burnt toast. Feliciano made such comical expressions.

Lovino waved to his parents, who had finally gotten out of bed, before heading out the door. He could hear Feli panicking behind him about not wanting to walk to school by himself but paid no attention. From where he was, he could already see Ludwig coming down the sidewalk.

Lovino paused in eating to glance at Ludwig, "Feli's coming." He turned on his heel without waiting for a response and walked down the sidewalk away from his classmate. How Feli could like someone like _that_ was beyond him. Ludwig was actually rather scary-looking. And he almost never smiled. Something Feliciano did twenty four hours a day. _'Opposites attract.'_ Lovino nodded, that was the only conclusion he could come up with.

'_Antonio would be your opposite.'_

If Lovino could have punched his subconscious voice he would have. He proceeded to brush his hands together harder than necessary to rid himself of any crumbs instead. And of course if he needed any more reason to think that he, himself, was cursed:

"Lovi!"

Damn. Spanish. Bastard. He was early today. OF COURSE HE WAS.

"Lovi, you're feeling better~" Antonio hurried up to him cheerfully.

"Brilliant observation." Lovino commented dryly. _'Dammit dammit dammit!'_

"Yay! I was worried about you yesterday~"

"You were what?" Lovino just stared at him in shock.

"I was worried." Antonio repeated. Why was this so hard to get through to Lovino?

Lovino just looked at him in silence. _'What? Okay. He's obviously out of his mind this morning. Moving on.'_ Lovino shook his head and continued walking.

"Whaaaat? I was! I even asked Feli how you were doing, but he didn't even know you were siiiiiick~"

'_Does he have to sound like a child whining? Yes it's cute…oh damn it.'_ Lovino could feel his cheeks flush and he promptly hit Antonio on the head, "Shut up. Of course he wouldn't know I was sick, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until evening, it's not like I texted him!"

"He was in your study hall and didn't notice you were sick?"

"He was talking to Ludwig, one, and two, _**I**_ didn't even notice I was sick." Lovino glared at Antonio, "It came up on me suddenly."

"Sure it did." Antonio said flatly.

That Spanish bastard didn't believe him. Lovino could have strangled him but he kept walking.

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Lovino and Antonio both stared at the poster that was hanging on the door.

"Assembly." Lovino repeated out loud.

"Yay! No first class! Aw. No Gilbert. Oh well, at least I have Lovi~" And Antonio promptly dragged him off towards the auditorium.

"Dammit! Let go of my arm!" Lovino yelled, protesting the entire way.

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.

Lovino crossed his arms, sulking. Antonio had succeeded in dragging him the entire way down the hall and into the auditorium, where they were now sitting side by side. Though at least there were no empty seats around them for Feli and Ludwig. That was a blessing.

Antonio was cheerful, completely oblivious to Lovino's sulking. _'Yay…now Lovi doesn't have to sit by himself~ and Feliciano and Ludwig can sit off with each other away from us.'_ He tilted his head suddenly wondering something. He couldn't but feel he was being slightly territorial over Lovino.

Lovino drummed his fingers on the armrest in annoyance. The silence settling in between them was becoming extremely uncomfortable. He glanced around, but didn't see anyone he could talk to. Well he could talk to someone random, but he would get stared at as if he was an idiot. So that was out.

"Can I have your attention?"

Lovino and Antonio were both jerked out of their thoughts at the sudden voice that went across the auditorium, complete with tapping noises.

"I understand some of you would much rather be in class right now…some of you would rather not be in school at all…some of you would do anything to get out of class…" The speaker started.

"Gee. That sounds familiar." Lovino grumbled.

Antonio patted him on the head, "There, there Lovi~ it's okay!"

Lovino glared at him, but made no attempt to move Antonio's hand.

"And there is a minority of you…sitting in this room at this very moment…who wouldn't want to be here or anywhere at all."

If Antonio had been drinking something at that moment, he would have spat it out on the person in front of him. Which was a funny image actually. Antonio shook his head from the random train of thought he had gone on and stared at the speaker in disbelief. Did he really just say that?

Lovino noticed the hand had abruptly stopped patting his head, and was instead just sitting there. Reaching up, he grabbed Antonio's hand and placed it back down on the armrest in between them. He rubbed the back of his head, thinking about what the speaker had just said. Sure it had crossed his mind once…maybe twice…but he had just pushed it off.

"I know to many of you, this may seem like a big joke, but I assure you, this is no laughing matter. The teenage suicide rate has increased this past year, and there are many speakers going around to different schools to try and educate the student body to be more attentive of their surroundings."

"Is anyone laughing?" Antonio whispered to Lovino.

Lovino looked at him blankly, "I don't hear anyone. But anyone laughing now, would get themselves yelled at by a teacher. And probably sent to guidance for thinking this is funny."

"True." Antonio redirected his attention to the front. Lovino had a way of speaking that made the conversation sound like it was over as soon as he was done speaking.

"Every single teenage suicide can be prevented. Look at your fellow students around you. How many of you talked to, on a daily basis? How many of the students around you, do you notice, but never bother to do anything about, walk by themselves to every class? Who don't have friends to talk to like you might?"

Lovino rolled his eyes before realizing that Antonio was staring right. At. Him. "What is your problem?" Lovino hissed, "Look somewhere else!"

"I notice one." Antonio said flatly. And promptly pointed at Lovino.

Lovino gave him a scathing glare, "Look harder then, bastard."

"Would you notice, if that one person you never spoke to, stopped coming to school? If they never showed up again to class, would you wonder why?"

"I would notice~" Antonio continued on his train of thought of Lovino.

"When is this nightmare going to end?" Lovino held his head in his hands, realizing that Antonio was NOT going to drop him as the person he was thinking of any time soon.

"How many of your classmates suffer in silence because they don't want to burden their troubles on someone else?"

Antonio looked from the speaker to Lovino again. He leaned over slightly so he was practically on the shorter boy's shoulder, "Are you suffering in silence, Loviiiiiii~"

"Shut up bastaaaaaard." Lovino retorted, shoving him away. He could feel his face grow hot and thankfully, it wasn't noticeable with the lights almost the whole way out in the auditorium.

"You alone, can make a difference in one student's life. Just by reaching out to them and saying hello, you could change their mind for one day."

"I will talk to Lovi every day~" Antonio promptly hugged Lovino.

"WOULD YOU STOP THAT?" Lovino snapped, barely keeping his voice down. He could hear the classmates around them laughing. _'HE'S MAKING FUN OF ME, DAMN IT!'_

"You can prevent acts of suicide just by keeping your eyes open and staying alert to your surroundings. Report any suspicious activity of another student to a teacher. If you see someone by themselves in the hall, say hello when you pass by. Don't just ignore them. Making them feel like they don't exist is the worst thing you can do to a person."

"Easy enough to fix. I shall not let Lovi walk alone~" Antonio continued smiling cheerfully.

Lovino was strangling the air in front of him. _'Stupid Spanish bastard. Stupid Spanish bastard.'_

.

.

Lovino bolted out of the auditorium the minute the speaker was done, "Oh. My. Word."

"LoviiiiiI~" Antonio came hurrying up behind him, "Wait for meeeee!"

"Leave me alone!" Lovino snapped.

"Nope." Antonio hugged him, "I shall not leave Lovi alone~"

"The life of the carefree must be so nice…" Lovino sighed heavily.

"You can share your burdens with me~" Antonio looked at him happily.

"No." Lovino said almost instantly.

Antonio pouted.

"Veeee~ What was up with that assembly? It was depressing!" Feli came up to them, dragging his feet.

Ludwig followed along right behind, but made no comment of agreement or disagreement.

Antonio turned his head and looked at the two who had just arrived, wanting to punch both of them. _'Hm. This is the first time I've wanted to punch Feli. I should wander away now.'_ Antonio just smiled, "Yeah it was, wasn't it? Later." He did a mock wave and walked off in the opposite direction, yanking Lovino along with him.

"Hey, bastard! My class is in that direction!" Lovino protested, pointing down a hallway that Antonio was walking by, "At least drag me the right way, dammit!"

"Hm? Don't we have this class together?" Antonio tilted his head, ignoring Feliciano and Luwig staring at them in confusion.

"NO. It's NEXT class we have together. Now let go." Lovino tugged on his arm, finally freeing himself while Antonio was pouting, "I'm walking by myself~" He waved his hands around dramatically before walking down the hallway.

"I'll be late to class then." Antonio skipped down the hall after Lovino.

"LEAVE ME ALONE DAMMIT!" Lovino yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear.

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><p>So yup. That was it. Hopefully I didn't completely miss the target on their characters. I personally think I suck at writing with these two. X_x; So review and tell me what you think? Please? owo<p> 


	4. It wasn't funny and I didn't laugh

So…I don't think I really got any reviews at all yesterday actually. I got a couple on my Canada fic, yay 3 But most of the email alerts were for subscribers. ._.; I guess I will take that as a compliment? Yes, no? Maybe so? Anyway on we go, also you may notice there are timeskips in between chapters, if it's a large amount of time, I'll say something at the beginning, right now however I think I skipped like two classes:

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><p>.<p>

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Lovino sulked in the cafeteria. Thankful that his brother and Ludwig hadn't shown up, though he still needed to ask Ludwig if he did like his brother, but still slightly ticked off at the way Antonio was behaving that morning. Okay slightly was pushing it. Extremely ticked off. Lovino drummed his fingers on the table he was sitting at in annoyance. Annoyed that the stupid Spanish bastard decided to even try liking him this morning, and even more annoyed that he was happy that the stupid Spanish bastard was liking him this morning. Lovino hit his forehead on the table in frustration.

"Lovi~ You didn't wait for me after class~" Antonio popped up beside him, carrying a lunch tray.

"Obviously not if I'm already sitting here. I can walk to the lunchroom by myself." Lovino grumbled, still having his head on the table.

"Are you feeling sick again?"

"No." Lovino sat up, straight, "I am fine."

Antonio pouted but sat down next to him. Really, why right next to him? There was empty seats all along the table, and on the other side, did he have to sit _right there_?

Lovino glared at Antonio as if to ask him about his choice in seating but shook his head and looked away again, only to notice Ludwig was coming over. Without Feli. Great. Perfect opportunity.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Ludwig asked, approaching the two quietly.

Antonio stiffened but Lovino ignored it.

"I don't give a damn where you sit." Lovino waved a hand carelessly at one of the empty seats.

Ludwig sat down on the opposite side and proceeded to open his lunch bag. Apparently he packed a lunch. What, did he have an overdoting mother or something?

"Does your mom still make your lunch?" Antonio must have read Lovino's mind.

"Nein…no. My dad did." Ludwig said, correcting himself before he spoke in german.

'_His dad cooks? Seriously? What the…'_ Lovino just gave him a blank look.

". . . . .your dad cooks?" Antonio looked at him with the same blank expression Lovino had.

"Ja." Ludwig just stared at them right back.

Lovino turned his head to look at Antonio, wondering if they were reading each other's minds or that somehow Antonio was just on the same wavelength. Either thought made him feel weird.

"Doesn't your mom cook?" Antonio tilted his head while taking a sip of his drink. How he did that without spilling any was a mystery.

"I've never met her so I wouldn't know." Ludwig said flatly.

"Dropping subject now." Antonio almost choked on his drink and quickly started eating again.

Lovino, however, was rather curious. But apparently the german did NOT want to talk about it, because his eyes seemed to be glaring at someone. Lovino shifted in his seat to look over his shoulder. Oh that's what it was. The albino german was now talking to Feli. Lovino looked back at Ludwig. _'Is he jealous?'_

Antonio looked over his shoulder, apparently copying Lovino, "Oh hey it's Gilbert~"

'_Don't wave him over here. Don't wave him over here.'_ Lovino slapped his forehead. That idiot was so completely oblivious to the vibes that Ludwig was giving off. Lovino slowly turned to see if…apparently Gilbert… had noticed that Antonio was waving, and yup. Sure enough, here he comes. Fortunately Feli went into the lunch line.

"Yo." Gilbert tousled Antonio's hair.

"Heyyyyy, you can sit with us~!" Antonio looked up at him cheerfully, not minding the tousle at all.

"Nah. I'm heading home." Gilbert shrugged.

"Whaaat? Second day in a row, are you sick?" Antonio looked at him worried.

Lovino resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Apparently he just worried about everyone. Well that meant he was just joking this morning? '_. . . . was he really making fun of me? Crap.'_ Lovino suddenly felt his stomach turn and slowly sank his head down on the table.

"I'm not sick, dummkopf." Judging by the 'ow!' that came from next to him, Antonio had received a hit on the head for his question.

"Principal doesn't like me, see you later."

Lovino felt a hand clap him on the shoulder before seeing Gilbert walk away, whistling some random tune. _'Well. That was odd. Why did he even do that?'_

"Loviiiiii, what's wroooong?" Antonio leaned over, "Are you feeling…"

"FINE." Lovino snapped at him before he could ask again, "Quit asking me that! I am FINE." He glared daggers at Antonio, but apparently he was immune to it.

"Ve~ there you guys are!" Feli bounced over with his tray and immediately sat next to Ludwig.

_The sick feeling is getting worse…_

Lovino looked at his brother, annoyed. They sat at the same table, every damn day. How could he seriously not realize this?

Ludwig just looked at the giant plate of spaghetti that Feli had come back with, "They gave you all that?"

"Yeah~! The cafeteria lady knows how much I love pasta!" Feli smiled happily, "Yum~"

_The sick feeling is still getting worse…_

Antonio shook his head, "Oh yeah, what'd you guys think of the assembly this morning?"

"It was so depressing!" Feli cried out, "Why would they do that first thing in the morning?"

"What he said." Ludwig continued eating.

With less emotion no doubt. Lovino made no comment about it and just listened as Antonio continued on about it.

"It lasted so long…it just seemed like the speaker was repeating the same thing, just using different words…" Antonio sighed.

"Oh I noticed that, too! If he had studied he could have done it in like ten minutes." Feli laughed.

_Sick feeling is getting much much worse._

"They can at least learn to summarize a little." Ludwig sighed in agreement.

Antonio nodded, "Yeah, no need to depress the heck out of us with repeating all the facts and figures. I could have gone my whole life without knowing any of that."

Fel burst out laughing, "I think all of us could have!"

Ludwig gave a small smile but made no comment out loud.

_I have got to get out of here!_

Lovino sat in silence the entire time, every now and then looking towards the doors and wondering how fast he could run out them. No one would notice if he just skipped the rest of the day right? Make up some excuse and get out of here!

"They said there's gonna be a follow-up to the assembly, but seriously, I don't think anyone even took that thing seriously. I mean, really, who's gonna go and kill themselves after that?" Antonio was laughing.

_He really was joking._

Feli laughed along with, "Someone who's reallllly messed up!"

"Or has nothing better to do." Ludwig took another bite from his lunch.

_I'm out of here!_

Lovino stood up abruptly, causing all three to stare at him, apparently out of shock.

"I'm leaving." Lovino grabbed his notebook and walked away from the table, hearing nothing but silence behind him. His face was burning, he could feel the heat. But dammit, did they have to laugh at the assembly? That was just rude!

Lovino let out a soft sigh as he was walking down the hallway, "I am so out of here…" He didn't even stop by the nurse's office, he just started heading for the door. He was about to head out the doors when he heard a voice calling to him. Okay if it was Antonio chasing him, he was seriously going to punch the guy. In the face. Lovino turned and glared.

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><p>There's a reason I'm leaving off there :D So leave me a review? Please? They make me feel happy~<p> 


	5. I'm so sorry Lovi!

I got more reviews this time around, yay~ Also got more ninja subscribers, but at least they like it. At least that's what I'm assuming. This one seems to be the most popular for ninja-subscribers. Meh. HEY NINJAS. LEAVE ME A REVIEW. K. I'm good now. So, this chapter will be in Antonio's POV. You'll understand why. If you already read the other three, than you know why. XD Sorry in advance if you haven't. Ilu all: Also timeskip to next day:

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Antonio waited next to Lovino's locker, waiting for the Italian to show up. He had been trying to call him all afternoon yesterday and last night ever since he left the cafeteria. But he wasn't picking upppp! Really. Lovi was starting to worry him now. It was almost time for first bell and he wasn't here yet. Now that Antonio realized it, he didn't see Feli either. Ludwig was here, of course, but no Feli. That was odd. Antonio tilted his head in confusion. Did something happen?

"_Attention all sophomore students. Please report to the auditorium at this time. This is a mandatory assembly. All sophomore students, report to the auditorium immediately."_

Antonio looked up, startled. Okay. Something really did happen. Mandatory assembly? That was bad news. He looked around desperately for a sign of either Italian, but saw none. He did however, meet Ludwig's gaze and the German looked as confused as he was.

"No sign of Feli this morning?" Antonio walked with Ludwig to the auditorium. Might as well, no one else to sit with.

"No. He wasn't outside of his house this morning, I figured I had missed him." Ludwig answered quietly. Did this guy do everything in that tone of voice? Seriously, put some energy into it!

They ended up sitting near the back of the auditorium, not that Antonio minded. He could see more people from their vantage point, and hopefully, he would spot Lovino. But the only thing that he saw were his parents. What the heck?

"Why is mein vati here?" Ludwig leaned forward and stared blankly at his dad.

Antonio frowned, "This isn't a good sign. If our parents are here, then this must be a really bad announcement."

Ludwig nodded in quiet agreement.

Antonio looked up as the lights dimmed. The principal walked out onto the stage a few minutes later. He looked around one last time in desperation but saw no Italian anywhere. Were they even here today?

The principal had begun by tapping the microphone. He cleared his throat for a moment before speaking: "Good morning, students… and parents. This is probably going to be a wake-up call for many of you."

Antonio winced. Wake-up calls were never good. In fact, they usually implied something really bad was about to come after that. Crap.

"Yesterday morning, there was an assembly for every grade in this school. This assembly was about teenage depression and suicide. Parents, you may or may not have heard about this from your child. This grade, that is sitting in front of me now, did not handle it very well. Many of you thought it was one big joke."

Antonio winced again. He had been one of the ones laughing at it, of course so had Ludwig, but still, it was just his way of relieving tension. Otherwise he would have been glued to Lovino's hip all afternoon. Not that he would have minded, but Lovino probably would have been cursing a blue streak.

"Many of you, didn't take what that speaker said to heart. You didn't think about the classmates around you that might react badly to it. Unfortunately, there were several of you who did."

Antonio noticed that the noisy people in front of them were now extremely quiet. At least he could hear a little better now, though that might not be a good thing.

"Yesterday, that guest speaker we had, told you to look around you, and asked you to think about that one person that may have been sitting near you. What you would think, if that person never came back to this school again."

Antonio wilted a bit. He really wanted to see Lovino now. Those worrying feelings were starting to come back. Judging by the expression on Ludwig's face, he was thinking something similar. Probably about Feli.

"Now I am telling you to look around you. Look at everyone that is sitting around you. Do you notice anything wrong?"

Antonio looked over at his parents, "The only thing wrong I notice, is that all our parents are here."

There were some quiet murmurs of agreement around him, including Ludwig.

"This morning I received a phone call. It was not a pleasant phone call. It was one that not one person in this room would ever hope to receive in their entire lifetime. It was a phone call that cut short four of your classmates' lives."

Antonio just gaped in shock. _Four? Oh geez! Four people are gone?_

"And now…with the acceptance I have received from their parents, I would like you all to pay respect to the classmates that you couldn't while they were alive. Each of these students, wrote a note that was found with them, that said why they did what they did. I have the approval to read these notes and I fully intend to."

Antonio braced himself for the no-doubt-depressing letters that were about to be read.

The principal pulled some papers out from the podium he was standing at and tapped them on the top of it. "The first letter reads as follows…"

As he was reading, a screen projector brought up a picture on the black curtain. Antonio looked at the picture. He had seen the guy around, sure, but he didn't know him all that well. Just that he was on student council with the other one, Roderich, the one Gilbert was constantly teasing. Never would have guessed he had a problem.

"My name is Arthur Kirkland. I am full well aware that by the time that someone reads this, I will no longer be here. I hear people all the time criticizing those of who live in depression saying 'we don't know how much we have to live for'. Maybe we don't know that, and maybe it's because we don't know it that we make such a drastic decision. My life was no hardship for me to survive through, and just because I had a certain person make fun of me almost every day wasn't the main reason for me to go through with this. It wasn't because of my family, who I love so much. It was because of what I went through every day at this school. Every day I see the same person smiling at some other person. Every day I try my best to focus on something else other than that one person. And every day I fail. Every day I felt myself fall deeper into the depression that I could not get out of. I refuse to be a hardship for my family or my friends. I will not let myself drag them down with me. I will leave this world and know that they will move on, and will be happy."

_Well that was depressing. He had no self-esteem whatsoever._ Antonio looked up at the picture again. Never would have guessed it.

"End of letter." The principal said quietly.

Antonio shook his head but felt as if ice was dumped on him when the next picture came up.

"My name is Lovino Vargas."

He knew he was the one that cried out in shock, but it was as if someone else had made the sound. He heard Ludwig talking, but couldn't make out a word he was saying. Judging by the arm that was now around him, it was supposed to be something comforting.

"I know that people took that assembly as a joke. But it really wasn't one. It wasn't even something to be laughed at. I don't know how people could laugh at that in the first place! But they did. That was all I heard today. Was laughter. That assembly was meant to wake us up. And it did to a few of us. And that few of us were the ones that everyone else was supposed to be watching for. What are we supposed to do? We were being laughed at and made fun of. Every day. This isn't something I can come to school for. This isn't worth living my life for. Not to be made fun of for something I can't control. I'm out of here. Maybe I can watch all of you and see if you all actually grow up or not. I hear adults saying they have a ray of sunshine in their lives, there was nothing but blue skies their entire life. I see a lot of gray clouds…and no sun. I don't get what the saying is supposed to mean exactly but…I'm pretty sure that life isn't supposed to have such a depressing outlook to it. I refuse to keep waking myself up every day to know that when I get to school, I will be laughed at for suffering from depression. They may not know who specifically we are, but we know. And it still hurts."

Antonio just sat in his seat, mouth slightly open, still looking at the picture in disbelief. This was NOT happening, "This is just a really bad joke right?" He looked at Ludwig with haunted eyes.

Ludwig's eyes were full of sympathy, but he didn't say anything. He probably didn't know what to say. And that was probably for the best.

"End of letter." The principal said quietly. Antonio looked back up at the picture of Lovino's smiling face. A rare smile, but a smile nonetheless. Normally he was frowning about something. Actually it was more of a half-smile. But…Lovi was gone?

"My name is Matthew Williams."

Antonio looked at the principal, still in shock. Somebody else who cut their life short.

"I'm sure whoever is reading this note probably has no idea who I even am. Because every day when I come to school, I don't exist. My classmates don't see me, if they hear my name being called during roll call; they think I'm a transfer student. My brother is probably the most popular athlete here, but nobody remembers his twin brother. Nobody cares."

_Harsh. That is a harsh way to start your last letter. I pity your brother. Oh…crap. Feli. Is Feli okay? It's no wonder he's not here!_ Antonio shook his head, but couldn't get rid of the cold feeling that Lovino's letter had left behind.

"That assembly we had…I actually thought it was rather pointless. The only way people are going to learn is if they want to learn. If they have a reason to benefit from the experience, they will learn from it. Nobody had any reason to listen or pay attention to that speaker, so why would they? They'd rather laugh at it. I don't know what to do anymore. I tried to speak up more, tried to make friends…but I wound up getting hurt each time. So I'm going to do the rest of the world a favor, and leave it. I was an invisible person while I was alive, I might as well be a ghost and not exist at all. I'm sick of trying." The principal looked up once more, "End of letter."

Antonio tilted his head slightly. _Pointless? Is that all it was? If it had been pointless, then why were four students now dead? Lesson learned. Really bad painful lesson. I want my Lovi back now._

"The last letter I have, is not a suicide letter. It is one that one of your classmates wrote because he was dying of an illness. And has been for the past year. He passed away overnight, but wanted his mother to give this letter for his classmates to hear."

Antonio winced. "Oh great. Three suicides and one death because of an illness. Today is turning out to be a should-have-stayed-in-bed kind of day." He slumped in his seat, still having Ludwig's arm around him.

"So, as written, unfortunately…I knew he hated me. Uhm…" The principal held the letter out at arm's length attempting to squint to read the handwriting.

Antonio looked back at the principal, "Don't. Even. Tell. Me."

Ludwig looked at him in confusion.

"To my awesome friends and not so awesome classmates. This is Gilbert in case you couldn't tell. Yeah so I won't be coming to that stupid school anymore, permanent vacation for me! So I'm sure Mr. Principal already told you that I was sick for the past year, yada yada. Yeah I was. Nobody noticed, thankfully. I swear if one more person asked if I was sick I was going to punch them in the face. But hey, no depressing comments here. I had an awesome life, thanks to my friends who kept me laughing, and even though I have a school record a mile long, I'm not holding any grudges to any completely unawesome teachers who couldn't laugh a little. There are some serious stiffs around here! Anyway, I'm outta here. I'll see you all on the other side. My awesome self is going to sleep now, and I already know I'm not going to wake up. I'm so damn tired it's not even funny. So this is the awesome me, saying goodbye to you all. Later~!" The principal shook his head, "End of letter."

Antonio fought the sudden urge to be sick. Great. Even Gilbert was gone. This was turning out to be a living nightmare. Gilbert. The one who always had such energy. The one who was always laughing and tormenting somebody. THIS IS A NIGHTMARE!

"He's gone?" Ludwig blinked, snapping Antonio out of his thoughts.

"Apparently." Antonio said in a very hollow-sounding voice.

"But…he seemed…so…lively yesterday." Ludwig whispered.

"Yeah. Well…now apparently he's the opposite." Antonio knew those words were harsh but it was all he could manage at the present time. Ludwig must have understood because the arm only tightened its grip. Iron grip.

"Your four classmates are gone from this world. And have left behind words for you to react on yourselves. This is your life to live. No one can make decisions for you. You react how you want to…but have the common decency to realize there are people around you who can be hurt by what you said." The principal stepped back from the podium and looked up at the four pictures.

Antonio looked back and forth between Lovino and Gilbert. Two friends. Two completely shouldn't-have-died-what-the-heck friends. Well. Clearly he should not laugh to release tension anymore.

"You lost four classmates in one night. For that reason, school will be dismissed for the sophomore class for the duration of the day. There will however, be memorials in the lobby for each student. Feel free to sign your names and write a message if you want to." The principal walked off the stage.

Antonio slowly stood up and made his way out the doors and back into the brightly lit hallway. Everything was moving in slow motion. Thankfully, Ludwig was right behind to make sure he didn't fall over. Which was sounding like a good option right now.

Antonio wandered out into the lobby and picked up a black marker to write on Lovino's memorial. He looked up at the picture one last time before heading over to Gilbert's and writing another message.

"I'm going home now." Antonio didn't even stay to see what Ludwig wrote, if anything at all, he just hugged himself and wandered away and out the door.

_**Loviiiiiiiiii- Please tell me this is a bad nightmare. Please tell me I'm going to wake up and be napping in class and you're swearing at me for doing so! Please tell me this isn't happening! You were. . .cute. Sure you swore a lot and yelled at me a lot, but you were still cute. Those angry faces of yours were adorable to see. I wasn't making fun of you, I swear. Just…please…you're coming back right?**_

_**Gilbert- What the heck. You were sick all along? All those times I asked you if you were sick, you answered no, and you really were? Clearly we can add 'liar' to your school record. I was worried about you! Oh man…this is like a screwed up nightmare. If you guys really are gone, can you hug Lovi for me? Thank you…I miss you already! I need someone to cheer me up!**_

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><p>Okay, chapter all done! Ninja subscribers, leave me a review. I command you. *evil glare*<p> 


	6. Mission for Blackmail more like!

Wooooow. I actually got flames from the last chapter! Light flames, but still flames. XD It's kind of funny, I think out of the people who are reading these, one person has read all four and realized something that no one else has. *at least not that they've put in the reviews*. I will say however, I did not mean to make anyone cry. Honest. So I'm not really sure how I wanted this chapter to come out. Apologies in advance for crappiness. Also, using italics to show a memory.

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_Lovino sat in the office, glaring at the teacher who was sitting across from him. "I don't need guidance or therapy or whatever the hell else you're suggesting."_

_The teacher wasn't fazed by Lovino's attitude apparently. He must have had experience with students like him before, "You failed the emotional aptitude portion of the test the other week. This indicates high levels of depression."_

"_Yeah well, I can deal with it. Leave me alone." Lovino turned in his seat away from the teacher and sulked. He just wanted to leave. Why did he get pulled into the office for this?_

"_None of your friends or classmates are going to know you're attending classes for your behavior." The teacher sighed heavily. Apparently he was also used to teenagers sulking._

"_Like hell they won't know! I'm just going to vanish from school and home and be where exactly? The center of the earth?" Lovino gaped at the teacher, "Not happening."_

"_Actually…you and three other students would be participating in a program the speaker wanted to start up in case of a bad response to the assembly this morning."_

"…_three other students and myself…being stuck in a program…we know nothing about. For a speaker that failed completely to deliver a message?" Lovino just stared at the teacher._

"_Okay that came out badly."_

"_No kidding." Lovino snapped._

"_Let me try this again. Our guest speaker, he has a program that he initiates if the school does not react well to the suicide assembly he gives. That's why we had that emotional aptitude test the other week."_

"_Oh. And somehow only four of us failed."_

"_Actually there were more than that, you four were randomly selected."_

"_I'd love to know how you all randomly select people." Lovino rolled his eyes._

"_Whoever we run into first." The teacher smiled pleasantly._

_Lovino rolled his eyes again, "Yeah whatever. Either way, not happening. Pick someone else for your damn therapy sessions."_

"_What do you think will happen if your depression worsens?"_

_Lovino opened his mouth to give a snappy response, but hesitated for a moment._

"_You don't think it'll end up hurting your brother and your friends?" The teacher inquired._

"_I don't give a damn. If they let my mood affect theirs, then that's their problem!" Lovino retorted._

_The teacher just stared at Lovino. Apparently he could tell that Lovino made that up on the spot. Staring contest time. Lovino glared right back._

"_And what are you going to say when they start asking what's wrong?" The teacher asked in a know-it-all tone. Actually it was probably more of a matter-of-fact tone, but seriously, he sounds like a know-it-all._

_Lovino shrugged, "Same thing I've been saying. Nothing is wrong. I'm fine."_

"_And sooner or later, they're going to be able to tell that you're lying. If they haven't figured it out already."_

"_Why do you act as though you're an expert on the subject? Go harass someone else!" Lovino snapped, refusing to respond to what the teacher had so blatantly pointed out._

"_The emotional sessions would help."_

"_First it's therapy, now it's emotional sessions. Which is it? Either way, the name change isn't making it any more appealing." Lovino grumbled._

"_It goes by either one." The teacher sighed heavily, "It is your decision to make. But think about the one person you see the most and talk to the most. Would you want that person to be affected by your depression?"_

_His mind didn't go to Antonio. Honest. Lovino sat in silence for a minute, cursing mentally at the teacher who was being such an annoying-know-it-all-pain-in-the-ass. Lovino glanced sideways at the paper that the teacher had been shifting around the desk, "What is the program about?"_

"_For all appearances sake, to your classmates, you will be dead." The teacher said quietly._

"_Dead? Oh that's just great!" Lovino slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead._

"_It's a mission for change. You're acting out to get your classmates to change their way of thinking about depression." The teacher added on quickly._

"_Mission for change? And what about my brother? Will he think I'm dead, too?" Lovino stared at the teacher. This guy was certifiably crazy._

"_Your parents will know you're alive, but that is up to them on what they want us to tell your brother."Oh great. That's just perfect. He could see Feliciano now, thinking he was dead. And Antonio. I wish I had a camera to see their faces, I know that's rude._

_Lovino rolled his eyes in exasperation, "Has this even worked at other schools?"_

"_Very well." The teacher smiled._

"_And how long do I have to stay 'dead'?" Lovino looked at him, skeptically._

"_As long as necessary. The longest have been out for three months."_

"_That's a hell of a lot of school work to make up!" Lovino yelped._

"_You'd get your classwork during the emotional therapy sessons."_

"_Oh now it's a mixture of both names. Look, whatever will shut you up. Fine." Lovino snapped._

_The teacher beamed and pushed the form over, "Also, need you to write up a letter."_

"_A letter for what?" Lovino stared at the blank sheet of notebook paper._

"_Act as if it's a suicide letter. The last letter you have to make your feelings known to your classmates." The teacher smiled._

"_Oh great. This'll be fun." Lovino grumbled, starting to scrawl on the paper. It wasn't as hard as I originally thought. Most of the thoughts I'm writing have been floating there for a little while now anyway, "What are you doing with this anyway?"_

"_With your parents' permission, we will be reading them during an assembly tomorrow that we will be having to announce the suicides of three classmates." The teacher smiled._

"_Oh that will be a lovely assembly." Lovino said flatly. "Wait. You said four earlier?"_

"_One of the students is dying of an illness. He opted to die early for the mission for change. Said something about suicide being an 'unawesome way to go'." The teacher shook his head._

"_That sounds like Gilbert." Lovino grumbled._

"_Gilbert Beilschmidt? That was him." The teacher laughed._

"_Ugh, I knew it. Antonio will have a fit tomorrow thinking we're both dead." Lovino sighed but handed the letter to the teacher, "Whatever. Here."_

"_You'll be leaving the school in an ambulance in about an hour or so. Feel free to sit and make yourself comfortable!" The teacher waved and hurried out the door, leaving no time for a retort._

"_WHAT DO YOU MEAN AN AMBULANCE?" Lovino yelled at the closed door. He strangled the air where the teacher had passed him in exasperation. Stupid program. Stupid teachers. At least it got him away from everybody who was annoying him._

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><p>I guess there was no need for italics since the whole chapter ended up being in italics. Was gonna have more, but I'll wait for the next chapter for that bit. So. You people who flamed me, don't be so quick to judge.<p> 


	7. Guidance office and Death by Slideshow

So, after responding to all my reviews, I shall now start with the next chapter. C: I 'm sure there are a few people who wanted this update to come. Also, this is gonna be split between Antonio and Lovino, I will make it as un-confusing as possible. XD This is day after assembly where the principal announced that Arthur, Lovino, Matthew, and Gilbert would no longer be in school. So school is once again, in session.

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Antonio stared blankly at the markerboard the teacher was writing on. It was almost as if everything was moving in slow motion. He didn't have Gilbert to cheer him up and make the class go by so much faster, so now it was like they were stuck in an endless time loop. Endless time loop of lectures. Feliciano sitting two seats in front of him wasn't helping. Of course the student in between them was absent today so Antonio was now staring at the back of the Italian's head.

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Lovino sighed. He was sitting in what resembled a school-classroom, near Arthur, Matthew, and Gilbert since they were all from the same school. Lovino slumped over his desk with a heavy sigh. Somehow the classes they taught at school were a lot more interesting than this. When were they allowed to go home again? When their classmates changed their view of the assemblies? That was going to be a long time. Lovino looked up at the slideshow they were watching. Normally he would be sleeping through this kind of thing, but the teacher was walking around the room making sure everyone was awake, so much for that.

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Antonio sat up, trying to focus on what the teacher was saying. He knew guidance was open if anyone needed to go down, but he was trying to resist the urge to leave in the middle of class. It was only the first one of the day. This just keeps dragging on! Antonio leaned to the side a bit and saw Feliciano was texting someone. Probably Ludwig. He didn't know who else Feli would be texting. Antonio shook his head with a sigh. If he didn't start paying attention soon, he was sure he was going to fail that test that was coming up soon.

"Alright class. I know I only have a couple of you paying attention…would anyone who needs to leave the room just do so?" The teacher turned and looked at the students.

Antonio stared at the markerboard behind the teacher. No way. Not going to be going to guidance in the middle of the first class of the day. He noticed that Feliciano had turned around to give him a questioning look. Antonio ignored it and continued staring at the front of the room. _'Go back to your texting.'_

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Lovino tilted his head slightly, trying to remain awake. Another slide. Another reason to gag as soon as he left the room. Were these classes actually rated to help anything? They were helping his gag reflex just fine. Seriously.

He almost jumped at Gilbert's voice whispering in his ear, "If you feel the familiar feeling of despair falling over you, don't be afraid to get help~"

Lovino quickly clapped a hand over his mouth to restrain the laughter. The albino was making fun of the slide that had just been showing on the screen, which apparently he had gotten as much from as Lovino did.

"Talk to a friend or a teacher that's nearby if you're in school~" Gilbert continued on, quoting the slide word for word.

Lovino looked over his shoulder at the german who was grinning broadly, "You are having way too much fun with this."

"Ja, of course~" Gilbert kept on grinning, "Don't have anything else to do."

"Try listening." Arthur looked back at Gilbert. His seat was to the left of Lovino's.

"I am. Didn't you hear my awesome quote?" Gilbert smirked.

"Obviously not. I was listening to the slide." Arthur sighed. Was he seriously listening to all these?

"Yeah well, you let me know if you learn anything from this." Gilbert waved a hand carelessly, much to Lovino's amusement. Clearly Gilbert wasn't even going to be bothered with this.

Lovino turned as he heard the door open and the teacher stepped out for a moment. The other students in the room all seemed to be, more or less, watching the slideshow, though he was half-wondering if some of them had just fallen asleep with their eyes open. Lovino shifted in his seat to look at the blonde who sat behind Arthur, "Are you listening to this?"

"Eh? Not really." Matthew slumped across his desk, "How are we supposed to talk to people about what we're feeling? Are we going to get counselor buddies or something when we get back to school?"

Lovino heard a muffled laughed and looked to see that Gilbert had tried, and failed, to restrain the responsive laughter.

"If they give me a counselor buddy I will deck the guy over the head and stuff him in the closet." Gilbert smirked, apparently now able to control himself.

Lovino shook his head with a laugh. At least he had three other people with him to talk to.

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Antonio, despite all protests with the teacher, now sat in guidance. Geez. He leaned back, hitting the back of his head against the wall. He did not want to be down here. Antonio glanced around the room. The teacher had decided that Antonio did not well enough to be in class and firmly told him to go to guidance. Why he was the one down here and not Feliciano was beyond him. Lovino was Feliciano's brother, so how come he was the one who needed guidance? This was ridiculous! Clearly, Feliciano had more people to talk to than he did.

"Duuuude…" Alfred plopped down next to Antonio, "Did you just get sent down here, too?"

"Yeah." Antonio sighed. Apparently Alfred's teacher wasn't used to the quiet.

"Stupid teacher. I can't even be attentive without having someone be concerned about me." Alfred slumped in the chair, "I need Gilbert. Seriously. We need some serious laughter."

"Yeah." Antonio nodded, "I can't believe that guy isn't here…"

"I KNOW! What the heck? How does someone that full of life…" Alfred's voice trailed off and he hit his head up against the wall, much like Antonio had just a few minutes before.

Antonio sighed, but didn't respond.

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><p>Ta-da. :D So there's the chapter. Sorry if came out crappy, I'm so extremely exhausted right now. X_x Leave me a review?<p> 


	8. Lunchtime

Sorry about the 2-day lull without any updates. Cleaning spree+sick=no updates. Aaaaaanyway, split chapter again, of course :D. Moving on~

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><p>.<p>

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Antonio tilted his head while standing in line. He couldn't make up his mind. Lovi would really go for the soup, he knew that. Just because it was tomato. That wasn't helping him make up his mind though. Actually…tomato soup sounded pretty good. Maybe he would get that. And hopefully Lovi's ghost doesn't get mad at him for having something he would want. That thought made him smile a little and he glanced towards the front of the line. Why weren't they moving yet? He could see Alfred bouncing in impatience further up and smiled. Oh…the soup line is moving faster. I guess there's a hold-up with the burgers.

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Lovino sighed and sat at the table next to Gilbert. He could have sat next to Arthur, but Matthew was probably the better one to sit there. Since Alfred and Arthur were friends. Wait, were they? Lovino tilted his head slightly he began cutting off a piece of…what was this?

"This is like hospital food right? Doesn't look or taste like what it's supposed to." Lovino said flatly. He blinked and noticed Gilbert had frozen with his fork only a couple inches away from his mouth.

"Have you tried it yet?" Arthur asked of him.

Well no he hadn't tried it yet. He just sat down. "No. Just a thought." Lovino shrugged. He noticed Matthew looking around and waved his hand in the air to signal to the Canadian to come over. Seeing Matthew smile in response, Lovino redirected his attention back to the tray.

Were Alfred and Arthur friends at all? He knew Alfred loved to tease Arthur, so it was possible, but then again, that would only classify them as being tolerable of each other, not really so much friends. How could Arthur even stand Alfred? He was loud. And slightly annoying.

"How was what?" Gilbert asked, snapping Lovino out of his train of thought again. Lovino looked up and noticed Arthur was confused about something. Whatever it was, Arthur seemed to decide not to pursue the matter and instead opted to take a bite of…the vegetable maybe. That face was hilarious. Note to self, do not eat that.

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Antonio stirred his soup absent-mindedly. That lunch line had gone by really fast. Of course it helped that the bowls of soup were already sitting there and they didn't have to pour it out themselves, but still. Alfred was just now coming to the table. Oh. Was he sitting over here today? Oh well. At least he had company. Hopefully Feli would sit somewhere else. No offense or anything, he just didn't need a painful reminder that he was trying to get off his mind.

"So at least lunch is still good." Alfred was saying, through a bite of burger. How he could eat three burgers in one sitting was a mystery.

"Yeah. About the only thing to look forward to. And I'm not even sure I was looking forward to this." Antonio sighed, still stirring the soup, "Seriously…I just want to go sit in a corner somewhere and hide."

"Uh-huh. You'll probably feel better if you actually eat…you know…instead of stirring and making a whirlpool?"

Antonio looked up, startled. He could feel his face turning red and quickly shook his head, "I was just waiting for it to cool off!" Honest!

"Sure whatever dude."

Antonio looked around him again. Oh. There they are. They being Feli and Ludwig of course. They were sitting off at another table. Feliciano was looking for someone it seemed. Hopefully not him. But who else would Feli be looking for at lunchtime? Antonio slumped in his seat a bit and started sipping his soup with a spoon.

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Lovino opted to try taking a drink instead. Obviously the food wasn't pasting any taste tests. He took a gulp from the bottle, too large of a gulp, and really bad-tasting one at that! Lovino clapped a hand over his mouth and forced himself to swallow. He hastily put the bottle down and didn't even bother re-capping it. Oh that was awful.

"Fruit juice?" Matthew was suggesting to Arthur, who was looking at the bottle closely. What was he doing, reading the contents?

"No." Lovino spoke up, might as well save someone else from that.

"No?" Arthur looked up at him.

"Definitely not a fruit." Lovino said, about to take a bite of whatever mystery meat this was.

"I wouldn't eat that if I were you." Gilbert was looking at him.

Lovino froze, his fork a couple inches away from his mouth, just as Gilbert had been earlier, "Why?"

"Just don't." Gilbert repeated.

"Class will not resume until all trays are empty!"

Curse that teacher. Curse whoever cooked this food. If it was ever cooked. Lovino noticed the trash can was right behind him. _Maybe…_

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Wow he had finished those fast. Antonio took another sip of soup.

"Dude. Lunch will be over soon."

"Huh?" Antonio blinked in shock. Lunch had gone by that fast? "Crap." He dropped his spoon and hastily started drinking from the bowl. He should really stop getting caught up in his own thoughts while eating.

"I told you that you should've started eating sooner!" Alfred was laughing. Oh well. It was nice to hear him laugh. Nice to hear _anyone_ laugh after the depressing day they had yesterday.

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Lovino picked up his spoon and noticed the teacher had his back to him. He leaned slightly and started catapulting small pieces behind him into the trash can, humming innocently while he did so. Good. Nothing left but the drink. Can't catapult that. Hmmm…Lovino glanced around and noticed Arthur's tray was completely empty. How did he eat all that? Lovino looked in the bottle, hearing Gilbert grumble under his breath about food poisoning and shook his head with a sigh. Have to drink it. Bottoms up.

Lovino gulped the drink as fast as he could to prevent any taste being left. It worked for the most part. And the look that Gilbert was giving him was worth it.

"You ate that, too?" Gilbert gaped at him.

Lovino just smiled. No need to give away the secret right? Otherwise they might move the trash can.

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><p>All done! So leave me a review and tell me what you thought~ I'm trying to lighten it up a bit! :D<p> 


	9. Ta da? Really?

So…sorry about lack of updates the last three days. First day I was distracted by finding a manga I've been looking for. So of course I read it in its entirety. XD Yesterday I was feeling understimulated *not enough sleep*, and today (Friday), fanfiction wouldn't let me sign in. Kept saying the connection timed out. So. No clue when this update is going to come up.

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><p>.<p>

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Antonio gazed at the blackboard at the front of the room. Study hall. And his phone sat silent in front of him. He knew Alfred was somewhere behind him, but hadn't paid attention to where his normally-loud, blonde friend sat down. At least Alfred seemed to be handling what happened alright. That or he had found something to take his anger out on. Judging by the loud thump, it was probably the desk he was taking his anger out on.

Antonio shifted his gaze back and saw Alfred was now glaring at a textbook. Ah. Must have been a test that he was frustrated about. Antonio rested his head back on his desk and closed his eyes with a sigh.

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Lovino stretched out over the bottom of the bunk-bed, watching the two others he could see on the other bunk-bed. Gilbert, for some reason, had wanted the top bunk, so he was laying on the bed that was above Lovino. Not that Lovino minded. Personally he preferred being close to the floor. He looked up as Arthur spoke: ""Well. Apparently there is no class after lunch for us."

"Works for me. At least if we get sick from eating, it won't be in the middle of class." Lovino rolled over onto his back and gazed at the bottom of Gilbert's bed.

"How did the teachers approach you all?" Damn that voice was quiet. He had to strain his ears just to hear it! And what was with the sudden conversation change anyway?

"A teacher practically dragged me off the roof and down to the office. Now that I think about it, he might have said the principal wanted to talk to me, but I was too busy protesting the whole way." Arthur grumbled. Matched him perfectly. He could see Arthur protesting and not listening to a word that was being said.

"I was blackmailed." Lovino grumbled. "Stupid teacher said he'd report the failed emotional test or whatever to my parents. And I would get sent here anyway." And there was NO WAY he was letting Antonio OR FELI find out where he was being sent to. Hopefully his parents had the good sense to NOT TELL HIM.

Gilbert started laughing above Lovino, "I was approached normally, sorry. Gets me out of that boring school so what the heck do I care? I'll die an early death, big deal." How could he be so carefree about it anyway?

"Eh…I was blackmailed too I suppose. If I didn't come they were going to report to my parents anyhow, so might as well come and save whatever dignity I had left." Matthew let out a sigh. Well. Someone else who agreed with him on this. Wait.

"Dignity? That sounds like something that will be non-existent the instant we go back into school." Lovino scoffed, sitting up.

"How are they planning on doing that?" Arthur had his head tilted slightly. It made him look thoughtful, but then again, with that blank expression you couldn't really tell what he was thinking.

"Dunno. We just show up and go TA-DA." Gilbert laughed at the thought, "Oh man, can you see their faces~!" Gilbert continued laughing. If we just show up and go TA-DA there is going to be some looks of shock and some looks of what-the-heck-is-going-on.

"Yeah…Alfred will probably strangle Matthew, if Cruz doesn't first, and if Cruz does, then he's going to strangle me." Arthur's turn to sigh.

"Ehhhhhh~!" Matthew whimpered at the thought. Okay, I feel bad for him. Neither of those options sound appealing.

"…Uh…I'm not really sure how Antonio would react. Or Feli." Lovino leaned over the side of the bed and looked up at Gilbert, "What about you?"

"Hmmm…Antonio would probably hit us both over the head, scream something about us scaring the heck out of him, and then we would probably both get a hug hard enough to choke any remaining air out." Gilbert looked down the side at Lovino. He was smirking. Of course he was. Because that sounded _exactly_ like Antonio.

"And my stupid brother will be pitching a fit." Lovino grumbled.

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><p>I cannot believe how short this chapter turned out. =_= Leave me a review anyway~<p> 


	10. Stupid Alfred and Out of that dumb class

Sorry about the lack of updates, but I am back with another chapter! Sorry if this turns out short like the last one. Hopefully if it does, it won't be _as_ short. Anyway, moving on. Oh this is after school/evening.

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><p>.<p>

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Lovino sat beside Arthur at the back of the classroom, staring blankly at the teacher who was talking to them, and had been for quite some time now, not that Lovino had been really paying attention. He had pretty much tuned the idiot out as soon as he started off with: "Now I know you don't want to hear this…" Anything being said after that was better off not listening to.

Lovino glanced at Arthur and noticed he seemed to be paying attention, or he was at least staring in the general direction of the teacher. Lovino looked back forward again. Well it couldn't be all that bad right?

"…may feel like no one understands you."

I take that back. Lovino slid down the wall slightly.

"But if that feeling comes over you, just find a friend that you trust you can talk to."

It was better tuning him out.

"Even if it's a family member you're having problems with, talking it over with someone else will help you look at the situation in a new light!"

A new light? You mean the light you're going to hit the family member with? It'd only work if it was a flashlight though.

"If you lose your nerve to talk to the person you're having the problems with, ask your friend to talk to the person for you!"

OH LIKE THAT WOULD WORK. Lovino slapped a hand to his forehead. Really. Why are they saying things that people in this room would have undoubtedly thought about doing already?

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Antonio hummed to himself, trying to keep himself busy. So far he had finished up his homework and done the dishes. Only problem now…he had completely run out of ideas on what to do. Antonio made a face.

Okay so the time is six-thirty. Way too early to head for bed. Come to think of it, why did six-thirty sound so much earlier than seven did? Seven seemed like a good time to head for bed, and there was only a half hour difference.

Antonio shook his head and headed up the stairs. Perhaps a good long soak in the tub would help. Antonio paused by his room hearing a familiar sound. His cell phone was ringing. Her hurried into his room and quickly tossed everything off his bed until he found his phone.

"Hello? Oh hey Alfred. No, not much. I was just about to…YOU DID WHAT?"

Antonio cursed into the phone and ran out the door, "I did not want to spend my night taking you to the hospital!"

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"Pardon me." Arthur raised his hand.

Lovino snapped out of his reverie when Arthur spoke up. Was he actually going to ask the teacher something that was said? Crap. He should have been paying attention!

"Yes?" The teacher looked over at where they were sitting.

"Sorry, my stomach is really upset right now, is there a nurse station or something here?" Oh, so it was because he wasn't feeling well. Well as fast as he had eaten that lunch, Lovino wasn't really surprised.

"Oh! Yes, but someone should go with you to make sure you're alright, Lovino is it? Can you accompany Mr. Arthur to the nurse station?"

YES. "Sure." Lovino smiled. I CAN GET OUT OF HERE!

"It's just down the hall on the left, third door." The teacher directed them as Lovino led the way out of the class.

"Thank you." Arthur shut the door behind them.

"Finally!" Lovino gasped out, "I couldn't take one more minute of that!" He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

Arthur chuckled a bit and headed down the hall, "Down this way right?"

"Yeah." Lovino followed along behind him, "So are we back in kindergarten with needing a buddy system?"

Arthur chuckled again.

So what if he had to sit in the nurse station with someone he hardly talked to up until now, he got out of that suffocating class!

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Antonio paced around the waiting room. Seriously. So much for that relaxing soak. Now he was stuck waiting for them to patch up Alfred's hand that he had somehow managed to break.

He looked up as Alfred came out from the emergency room doors with a hand that was pretty well bandaged. Antonio glared at Alfred, who promptly broke out into a grin.

"Well are you going to explain that at all?" Antonio glared at him.

"I lost my temper and punched the wall. Not much else to it!" Alfred laughed sitting down on a seat in the waiting room.

"Who would punch a wall, seriously?" Antonio grumbled, sitting beside him, "And why did I have to bring you here?"

"Dude I wasn't walking here by myself, and I totally left a dent in that wall." Alfred started pouting, "It just got me back that's all."

"Yeah. By breaking your hand. Good luck playing sports like that." Antonio said, glared at his bandaged hand.

"Yeah, totally lucky. I get out of gym class now." Alfred lifted up his bandaged hand, "Works for me."

"Huh?" Antonio stared at him blankly. I thought Alfred liked gym?

"Mattie didn't like gym class." Alfred said flatly. Antonio watched as Alfred waved his hand around slightly. Okay…what was going through this guy's head? He wasn't acting like himself at all.

"You want to sleep at my place then?" Antonio stood up abruptly.

"Seriously? Sure, man!" Alfred grinned.

Better to keep an eye on him than let him go back home and probably break the other hand.

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><p>Short again. Well at least Antonio started being more observant. =w= Anyway, leave a review? Sorry if this turned out crappy, my mood kinda went south as I was writing it.<p> 


	11. Sleepover! and Suppertime

Sorry for those that got excited to see two of the others updated, and were disappointed that this one and Arthur's didn't update. Here you go XD :

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><p>.<p>

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Lovino rolled over in annoyance. This was a pain. Sure they got out of class, but now the nurse thought _he_ was sick. Lovino sighed and glared up at the ceiling. The curtains had been pulled around his bed, but he could still hear Arthur shifting around in the bed. At least Lovino had been able to get in a nap. A short one, but a nap nonetheless.

Now however…his stomach was beginning to growl. He pulled himself up closer to the wall and glanced through the curtains over to where Arthur was.

"Pssst." Lovino hissed, trying to keep quiet.

So he was awake. Arthur looked at him, "What?"

"When do you think supper is?" Lovino propped himself up, careful to keep an ear out in case the nurse would happen to walk in the room. She had left some time ago fortunately.

"Hopefully soon. Did you sleep at all?" Lovino stared blankly at Arthur for a moment. He just went from one subject to another.

"Yeah. Don't know for how long though." Lovino shrugged. He heard footsteps and quickly laid back down again.

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Antonio stretched himself out on the air mattress on the floor. He was a little surprised that Alfred had taken him up on the offer of an overnighter. Good thing they had the spare mattress in the crawlspace. He glanced over and saw Alfred frowning at his bandaged hand. He wasn't going to punch the wall again, was he?

"This is so going to hurt." Alfred was pouting. Oh geez.

"Well yeah. Broken hands usually do." Antonio sat up and looked at Alfred curiously. He was a little curious as to why Alfred had punched the wall in the first place.

"At least I dented the wall!" Alfred grinned at him. Well at least he was still cheerful.

"Yeah. I'm sure your parents will love that." Antonio grabbed his travel pillow he had also found in the crawlspace, and hugged it to his chest, "Good luck explaining it." He added.

"The voice in my head was ticking me off." Alfred said flatly. Grin was gone. Uh…there is a _voice_ in his head? And it's not his? That's a little creepy.

"I'm sure your parents will love hearing that one, too." Antonio commented, raising both eyebrows at Alfred. That settled it. Alfred was most definitely _not_ okay. "Did you talk to your parents at all about Matthew?" He tilted his head slightly.

Antonio looked at Alfred confused when the blonde just stared at him. Much to his surprise, and at the same time not at all surprising, Alfred suddenly laid down and rolled away from him.

"I'm sleepy! Night!" Alfred commented.

"…Goodnight." Antonio shook his head but got up to turn the light off. He flipped the light and shuffled back to his air mattress, promptly tripping over it and landing face-down, "Ow!"

"Dude. I am not taking you to the hospital after the grumbling you gave me." Alfred was definitely grinning. He could _hear_ it.

"Shut up. I don't need the hospital." Antonio grumbled.

He could hear the blonde laughing, but chose to refrain from comment.

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"What do you two think, are you well enough to go eat supper?" The nurse looked back and forth between Arthur and Lovino.

"I'm fine." Lovino spoke up hastily. He _desperately_ wanted food.

"I'm fine." Arthur smiled. Well. He was rather calm about it. Then again, Lovino rarely ever saw Arthur when he was upset about something.

"Alright then, go ahead. The cafeteria is five doors back in the direction you came, on the right." The nurse pointed down the hallway.

"Yes ma'am." Arthur began walking down the hallway, so Lovino quickly followed him. Why was he so polite all the time anyway?

Lovino glanced at the closed doors as they walked by, "I wonder how many different classes they have here?"

"Don't know. They do have an awful lot of classrooms, don't they?" Arthur commented in response.

Lovino nodded in silent agreement. He perked up at the scent of food and hastened his pace, "Supper!"

"Let's hope it's more edible than lunch." Arthur commented.

"Ugh. It better be." Lovino shook his head to get rid of the mental image that was left, "When I get out of here, first thing I'm going to do, is go eat out at a decent restaurant."

"Hear hear." Arthur agreed.

Lovino stood in line behind Arthur and glanced around the lunchroom. He didn't see Gilbert and Matthew initially, but they could be somewhere in here. Oh there they are. Back corner.

Lovino peered forward again as Arthur took a tray and politely thanked the woman handing them out. Well. Isn't he a regular gentleman? Lovino raised both eyebrows but made no comment, and instead took the tray he was handed. He glanced at it and looked back at the woman, "I don't suppose you all serve Italian food here?"

"Italian food? We have pasta on the menu for tomorrow's lunch." The woman blinked at him.

"Pasta is good, thank you." Lovino walked away with a sigh. At least he could look forward to that, as long as they didn't overcook the noodles or something. He walked over to where the other three were sitting and sat down across from Matthew.

"Hello." Matthew smiled at him.

"Hi." Lovino grumbled. He glared at the burger, "Can't they serve pasta? Or something." He knew he had been told there was some on the menu for tomorrow, but geez. He could certainly go for some now. He tore open his ketchup packets and dumped them on the burger. They could have at least included some tomato slices.

"You want my ketchup?" Arthur offered him the packets.

"Thank you." Lovino sighed and gratefully took the ketchup, any flavor was better than whatever this would taste like.

"I swear you're trying it on purpose." Gilbert commented. Lovino looked up in confusion after dumping the last ketchup packet on the burger.

Matthew glared at him, "I am not. Shut up." What are they talking about?

"Trying what?" Arthur questioned.

"Nothing." Apparently Matthew hit Gilbert underneath the table because the albino reacted in pain.

"Ow!" Gilbert winced, "That hurt!"

Lovino shook his head and munched on his burger. Better to ignore the two and whatever they were going on about. Knowing Gilbert, it was something of entertainment value and nothing more.

Matthew spoke up again: "Are you related to Ludwig?"

Gilbert just stared at Matthew, "He's not my brother if that's what you're asking." Oh come to think of it. They both speak the same language.

"You both speak german though, I'm amazed you're not friends." Lovino agreed with Matthew. He took another bite of his burger.

"Ja…no way. He's a stiff. He needs to have a little more fun." Gilbert waved a hand around carelessly. Right. Gilbert would hold that against Ludwig wouldn't he. That and he doesn't like Feliciano all that much.

Lovino continued eating his burger, thinking about the possibility of Gilbert and Ludwig being related. Really the only thing the two _did_ have in common was that they both spoke German naturally. They didn't look anything alike, other than they were about the same height. Ludwig was slightly taller. At least from perspective he was, he never saw the two standing side-by-side.

"Ow!" Matthew winced, rubbing the back of his head, "What was that for?" Apparently Lovino had missed something. He looked back and forth between Gilbert and Matthew in confusion.

"You know what it was for." Gilbert said flatly, finishing his drink. "Going back to our wonderful bedroom, see you two back there." Gilbert waved at Arthur and Lovino before forcibly dragging Matthew out of the lunchroom.

"Well." Lovino commented, "Coming from someone else other than Gilbert, that comment could have been taken completely the wrong way."

"No kidding." Arthur started drinking his soup, "You'd think they would have given us crackers, or something."

"Oh…they didn't, did they?" Lovino looked around his tray. He hadn't even thought about it. Oh well. "What kind of soup is it?"

"Tomato." Arthur commented.

Lovino quickly gulped it down, ignoring the stare from Arthur. Damn it. He was hungry for tomatoes! Lovino half-glared at Arthur, "What?"

"Nothing." Arthur shook his head and continued sipping the soup. The burger had vanished from his tray.

"So do you sit with Alfred at all during lunch?" Lovino asked.

"Sometimes." Arthur commented, "Why?"

"You eat fast." Lovino said flatly.

Arthur glared at him, "Only to skip the tasting part of the meal."

Lovino nodded, but not necessarily in agreement and took a swallow of the fruit juice, which he promptly threw into the trashcan, "Bleah! I'll be thirsty all night before I drink that!" He leaned over the side of the table and started coughing, "Oh that was awful."

"Would you like some water?" The lady he had been talking to before offered him a bottle.

"Yes, I would. Thank you." Lovino quickly took the bottle and gulped down the drink, "Much better!"

Arthur frowned at the fruit juice, "How bad is it?"

"Very. Slip it with your trash, you can have the rest of the water." Lovino pointed to the trashcan.

Arthur stood up and dropped the fruit juice in first, making sure his tray covered up the full bottle in the trash can before smiling at Lovino, "Back to the room?"

"Yeah." Lovino motioned for Arthur to lead the way and followed him out, "Finally, we can sleep!"

"I wonder how early we have to get up tomorrow." Arthur commented.

"Oh, I don't even want to think about it. It's only been one day! I want to go home!" Lovino pouted.

Arthur laughed, "As do I."

Lovino watched as Arthur pushed open the door to their room and both of them just stared blankly. Gilbert and Matthew were already fast asleep.

"Well." Arthur commented, "I shall have to be quiet."

"Yeah good luck with that. These beds make a lot of noise." Lovino grumbled, climbing onto his mattress.

Arthur, somehow, made it up on top of the bed noiselessly and smiled at Lovino from the top, "Goodnight."

"Night." Lovino rolled over to face the wall. _Sleep._

"Night."

Okay so apparently Gilbert _was_ awake. And now his head was hurting because of it.

"And goodnight to you, too." Lovino grumbled.

"I heard your head hit the wall~" Gilbert was laughing above him.

"Oh shut up." Lovino hissed.

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><p>Yay, update all done~ :D Leave me a review, they are much loved ^_^<p> 


	12. ENCORE!

So with new music in my windows media player, I am ready to continue writing~ :D I know I promised some people the update would come on Thursday, sorry about that. I got a bad headache that lasted two days. =_=

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><p>.<p>

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Lovino glared at the bottom of the bed that was above him. How often was it now that he had been woken up by Gilbert's constant tossing and turning in the mattress? He grabbed his pillow and pressed it to his face, letting out a muffled yell of frustration. The whole damn bed moves when somebody on it shifts! Lovino looked over at the other bunk bed and saw Arthur and Matthew weren't moving at all. Lucky them. Was Gilbert even awake? Lovino leaned over the side of his bed but couldn't tell, apparently Gilbert was close to the wall. Lovino rolled back over onto his side and put the pillow over his head again. Maybe he should just sleep on the floor.

Lovino leaned over and tested the floor with one hand. It wouldn't be so bad if he used his blankets as a sleeping bag. Well if he didn't get any more sleep this morning then he would try that tonight. Lovino nodded and closed his eyes, attempting to go back to sleep. Lovino settled in, hugging the pillow closer. Sleep was just within reach…

"_RISE AND SHINE! IT'S TIME TO GET UP FOR YOUR MORNING BREAKFAST AND CLASSES!"_

WELL IT USED TO BE. Lovino slammed the pillow against the wall. It was WAY too early for this!

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Gilbert yelled, "It's four o'clock in the morning!"

Oh. So Gilbert _was_ awake. Well. Fine then. He could have been yelling at Gilbert to decide on one spot and stay there.

"_RISE AND SHINE!"_ *CLICK*

Lovino glared at the mattress above him as a muffled grumble came from it.

"Damn it…this is gonna SUCK."

You're telling _me_. Lovino rolled over again and grabbed his pillow back. No way was he getting up yet.

"Is it morning already?" Arthur asked, sitting up.

"Nein. Four o'clock hardly counts as morning." Gilbert grumbled. He leaned over the side of the bed and looked down at Lovino, "You getting up?"

"No." Lovino grumbled, turning his head to glare at him, "This is a bad dream and it's not time to get up yet."

"I'm all for that." Gilbert raised his hand slightly. How does someone raise their hand while hanging their head upside down? Well. He certainly pulled it off. Lovino sighed heavily, but still didn't move.

Arthur sighed, "You know if we all don't get up and moving they're probably going to come in here and force us up."

"I'm up." Lovino sat up straight in bed. One rude wake-up call was enough for the morning.

Gilbert sighed heavily. "Fine. He clearly is not a morning person. And neither am I."

Lovino looked over and saw Matthew had yet to move. "You're awake though." Lovino glared up at Gilbert as he climbed off the bed.

"Yeah. And I've also _been_ awake." Gilbert returned the glare. "I couldn't sleep." Gilbert climbed down the ladder and stretched one arm above his head. "I'm gonna fall asleep during class."

No really? I think I knew you couldn't sleep already. Lovino continued glaring at him before shaking his head in frustration. "Are you wearing what you wore to bed?" Lovino asked, looking over at the dresser that held their clothes.

"Might as well." Gilbert shrugged.

"We'll catch up with you two!" Arthur commented, waving at both of them. Apparently Matthew was not getting up. Breakfast time then.

"See you later then." Gilbert walked out of the room. Lovino followed along behind him, still mentally cursing about the rude wake-up call.

"How did you sleep then?" He ran a hand through his silver hair, attempting to straighten out the bedhead he was left with from all the tossing and turning.

"I didn't." Lovino grumbled, choosing not to argue with his own hair.

Gilbert looked at him with raised eyebrows, "You couldn't sleep either?"

Lovino forced a smile, "You know how hard it is to sleep when the bed keeps moving because _somebody_ can't stay in one spot?"

Gilbert's face reddened a bit, "Well excuse me for not being able to get comfortable!"

"I know the feeling." Lovino glared at him and stalked into the cafeteria.

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Antonio moved in the mattress he was sleeping on. It had definitely been a long night. But the morning was finally here. Another day of the same old thing. Antonio looked over at Alfred and saw he was sitting up.

"Ready to get moving?" Antonio asked.

"No. Ready to go back to sleep. I was hoping when I woke up, this would just have been a nightmare. But my hand is still broken, and Matthew is still not here." Alfred sighed heavily.

Antonio sighed heavily. He picked up his cell phone, but it remained silent with no new notifications. "I wonder if ghosts can text back." He sighed and threw his phone in the direction of his backpack before sitting up. "Man. Class had better be worth it."

"No kidding." Alfred groaned.

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.

Lovino sat down across from Gilbert. He shook his head and looked at the eggs on his tray. Well. They were supposed to be eggs. But they didn't look like it. Lovino yanked the ketchup bottle over that was sitting on the table, might as well make them at least taste a little better.

He looked up and saw Gilbert was grinning at his phone. They weren't supposed to use it unless they were texting their parents so…

"Did your mother text you?" Lovino asked, curious. That or someone had texted a dead person's cell phone. That would be creepy.

"Ja. Totally mutti." Gilbert said, without looking up. That was the most unconvincing load of crap ever. It was so not his mother. Which meant somebody was texting a dead person's cell phone, and he was texting back. So somebody out there thinks a ghost can text message. …Lovino pulled out his own phone and looked at it.

I wonder if Antonio would think that? Lovino tapped in a message just to be curious and sent it off. He pocketed the phone and started eating the eggs.

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Antonio looked over at his phone as it started going off, "Huh?" He had pulled on the same outfit he had worn yesterday, not really caring if people noticed.

"Dude. Who texts you this early?" Alfred asked.

"Probably Feli." Antonio looked at the phone, freezing as the message popped up. "AH!" He dropped the phone.

"Who is it?" Alfred blinked.

"A ghost!" Antonio panicked.

"AAAAAAAAAA!" Alfred ran from the room, "I can't stand ghosts!"

"Geez he's fast." Antonio picked up the phone and held it at arm's length away from him.

_**Well I certainly hope you're up and not still in bed. It's no point living if you spend the whole time in bed now is it?**_

… Antonio stared at the message. Would Lovi's ghost respond if he tapped in a message? Antonio looked at the phone before sending a response and pocketing the phone. He could hardly believe he was actually _hoping_ a ghost would send him a text message. How was that even possible?

Antonio shook his head and hurried down the steps, "It's probably Feli with Lovino's phone. Relax."

"Yeah…that would make sense…" Alfred leaned on the table in the dining room, "What's for breakfast?"

"Just grab something from the fridge." Antonio rustled around in his backpack, making sure everything was in it that he needed for the day.

"Okay!" Alfred skipped over to the fridge and yanked it open, "Food…food…"

.

.

"Think this is safe?" Gilbert asked.

Lovino looked up and saw he was poking the eggs, "They taste fine to me. Was the sausage safe?"

"Ja. And really good." Gilbert smiled.

He was way too cheerful to be just texting his mother. He was definitely texting someone else. And that was Lovino's phone going off. Lovino pulled out the phone and looked at the message.

_**I'm not in bed. Alfred went and punched a wall so he was sleeping over here. I miss you Loviiiiiii!**_

That was a typical Antonio answer. Lovino typed in a response and put his phone away just as Arthur appeared beside him.

"What's up?" Arthur sat down next to Lovino. Gilbert was apparently not happy with the message he had gotten, since he was pouting at his phone.

"Oh apparently some people in school are really upset." Gilbert commented, "Mutti is texting me."

"Really?" Arthur blinked, "That's surprising. The way they all were laughing, I thought they still would be."

Lovino suddenly remembered what he had said in his last letter and felt his face grow really hot. How could he even forget what he had written? Damn it. And he had texted Antonio, even though the letter was obviously directed at him, Ludwig, and Feli. He was definitely an idiot.

"Is something wrong?" Matthew sat next to Gilbert, looking at Lovino in confusion.

"No." Lovino shook his head hastily. How could he have been so stupid? He was not texting again. That was it. Apologies were best said in person.

Gilbert looked over at Lovino, "Hey by the way, before you destroy the sausage, if you don't want it, gimme." He held up his fork hopefully.

Lovino glared at him, he hadn't even realized how he had been stabbing the piece of meat that was on his tray. Lovino sighed and offered the sausage.

"Is that a German thing? You like sausage?" Matthew asked, staring at Gilbert.

"As you put it, 'Germans' tend to call it wurst. And there is a slight difference, just so you know, I just happen to like sausage." Gilbert smiled.

GEEZ. THAT SMILE COULD KILL SOMEONE. That was NOT a pleasant smile! Lovino gaped at Gilbert as Matthew went back to eating.

.

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Antonio looked over his shoulder and saw Alfred drinking from a can of soda that had been in the fridge. He glanced at the message that had popped up on his phone and bit his lip slightly. Okay. He had a point.

_**Seriously. Why would you tell someone who's dead that you miss them? Do me one last favor, look around you, find someone to talk to, and don't end up like we all did, okay? And seriously, don't text a dead person.**_

Well he texted me first. Antonio sighed but put the phone away without responding. Right. Move on. I can do this. Antonio nodded and pulled open the fridge. He noticed the container of tomatoes sitting on the top shelf and automatically closed the fridge door again. Never mind. He didn't need breakfast anyway.

.

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Lovino looked at the paper he was given. Room 17. Well, it wasn't the same as any of the classrooms he had been in yesterday at least.

"_Gilbert Beilschmidt, please report to conference room A." *click*_

Lovino looked up at the ceiling. He had gone in the opposite direction as Gilbert, as Gilbert's room had been to the left, whereas Lovino's was to the right. Maybe someone came to see him? Well Gilbert would definitely not be texting his mother if she was coming to see him this morning. Lovino shook his head and continued walking. He raised his eyebrows as he walked right by the conference room that Gilbert was supposed to be heading for.

He was half-wondering who it was in there, but Lovino shook his head and kept walking. Room 17. Hopefully this class wouldn't be all that bad. Lovino arrived at the right door and pushed it open, peering inside before he went in.

There were only two other classmates in there. Oh great. Lovino crossed the room and sat down on the floor. No desks or chairs. Which means this is probably some kind of bonding class. Great.

.

.

Antonio walked with Alfred through the hallway. Alfred was getting several looks because of his hand, but apparently the blonde was just ignoring them. Antonio sighed, shaking his head slightly. At least he had the first class with Alfred so he could keep an eye on him.

"Hey Alfred. Come over here a sec." Roderich called.

Alfred started walking over, so Antonio followed along behind him. He was just curious to see what Roderich wanted. Not really meaning to join in on the conversation.

"What's up?" Alfred smiled.

Roderich shook his head, "Just a warning, class isn't going to go as normally planned."

Antonio stared at Roderich in confusion. This was either a good thing or a bad thing. And the track record of bad things outnumbered the good.

"Is there another assembly or something?" Alfred blinked. Please no.

"No. I just decided to take a page from Gilbert's book on living." Roderich tilted his head slightly, still smilling.

Wait…what?

"Oh sweet! This is gonna be awesome!" Alfred started laughing.

Antonio looked back and forth between the two, "You're actually gonna disrupt class?" Antonio looked at Roderich amazed. Maybe…this wouldn't be such a bad day after all.

"I am." Roderich smiled, "Everything is set up already."

"This is gonna be sweet!" Alfred grinned.

Just what they needed. Some relief from the feelings of being so upset the past two days. Antonio smiled as Roderich walked away.

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Lovino looked at the teacher with a blank expression. He looked really familiar from somewhere. Where did he know this guy from…

"So this is my class of three this morning…" The teacher looked around at the three students in front of him, stopping as his gaze rested on Lovino, "Whaaaaaat?"

Lovino just stared at the teacher, "What do you mean what? Should I look at something else?"

"Why are you here?" The teacher tilted his head.

"Because I have to be?" Lovino looked at him in disbelief, well why else would he be here?

A grown teacher, was pouting. You have GOT to be kidding me.

"But you always seemed so happyyyyy…"

Okay. Obviously they knew each other.

"Who the hell are you, seriously? And obviously you didn't know me very well if you thought I was freaking happy." Lovino snapped.

The other two students just looked back and forth between the two. They looked like they could be siblings. They both had the same blonde haircut.

He was pouting again.

"You don't remember me? I know it's been a while since I stopped by to see everyone but stillllllll…"

Lovino just stared blankly at the person in front of him. This was NOT his stupid grandfather. "Well that confirms that. This is a nightmare." Lovino flopped down on the floor. "I give up."

"Nooooo! No giving up!" His grandfather waved his arms around in a panic, "You are here to get a second chance!"

"Oh shut up!" Lovino yelled, clapping both hands over his ears.

.

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Antonio sat in Gilbert's seat. Or…what used to be Gilbert's seat. He looked at the clock. He was half-wondering what Roderich had planned for the class that morning. Hopefully something that would cheer him up. He was still thinking about the text messages he had gotten from Lovino that morning. Was it really possible for a ghost to text? And if it wasn't possible, then who was texting him?

"Okay class…" The teacher started as the bell rang.

Something went flying over his head and exploded against the board. Was that…a water balloon? Antonio turned in his seat just in time to get a face full of water. That was definitely a water balloon. There were water balloons flying from the back of the room. Oh my word. Gilbert would be laughing his head off right now.

"WHOA!" Alfred yelped, ducking as one exploded just above his head, "Ahahahaha! This is freaking awesome!"

He had to admit, Roderich had really outdone himself. This was amazing. Antonio looked around in wonder as the water balloons came into contact with a hard object and exploded. How long had it taken him to get all this ready? His gaze settled on Roderich and he smiled as he saw the male was laughing.

"WHO. DID THIS?" The teacher yelped, as the water balloons stopped coming.

Alfred clutched at his ribs and continued laughing, "Oh man!"

Antonio was laughing along with, "That was so funny!" That was hilarious! Antonio shifted in his seat to look back at Roderich again and saw he was watching the clock, still smiling. Was something else…

More water balloons started flying through the air, one of them smacking the principal who had just come into the room.

"Well. I see Gilbert's legacy still lives." The principal commented, clearly showing annoyance.

"Oh my word." The teacher looked around, "I know he didn't set this up, who the heck was it?" She looked around the room, as if expecting to get an answer. Antonio covered his mouth to suppress the laughter that was coming over him.

"Three…two…one…" Roderich's voice called.

Antonio laughed as several people turned in their seats in shock. He had even rigged the ceiling decorations! Well, class was officially over. No way was anyone going to be paying attention now!

"RODERICH! THIS BETTER NOT HAVE BEEN YOU!" The principal yelled, his face beet red.

"Ahahahahaha!" Alfred continued laughing.

"Guilty." Roderich raised his hand, laughing.

"Oh my word! Gilbert would be on the floor laughing so hard right now!" Antonio burst out laughing again. The albino would probably be trying to catch the water balloons and toss them at unsuspecting targets.

"Why would you do this?" The teacher gaped around the soaked classroom.

Antonio turned, curious to know what Roderich's answer would be. Judging by the looks Roderich was getting, the whole class was curious.

Roderich stood up and smiled, "I quote: There are some unawesome teachers around here who don't know how to laugh a little."

Alfred started clapping, despite his broken hand, "Encore~"

"NO!" The principal yelled.

"Encore!" Antonio joined in clapping. Oh if only Gilbert and Arthur had been here! Arthur would be completely in shock at the way Roderich was acting.

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.

Lovino listened to his grandfather as he talked on.

"Now I know you two have problems with your family, and apparently my Lovino does, too…" He was pouting again.

"Oh grow up." Lovino grumbled, still laying on the floor.

"But your family is there to love and support you, and if they can't do that, then they're the ones who need help."

Lovino shook his head, but made no comment out loud.

"But…it's so hard talking to them…" The blonde-haired girl spoke up quietly, "The only one I talk to is big brother…"

"And that is something you need to work on. Why don't you just try calling your parents? If you can talk to them over the phone, you'll get a little more confidence to be able to talk to them in person."

This was probably the only time his grandfather ever said something that sounded smart. Lovino looked at his phone, wondering if his parents would even pick up. They were probably at work right now.

.

.

"Roderich, out in the hall." The principal pointed at the door, still seething apparently.

"Just so you know, there's something else coming." Roderich waved cheerfully before leaving the room.

"What else is coming?" The principal looked after him, gaping slightly, "Well turn it off, whatever it is!"

"That would be completely disrespectful to Gilbert." Roderich commented, out of Antonio's sight, "He's not around to keep class entertained anymore, so I thought it would be necessary to have something happen every once in a while."

"If you ever do this again, so help me…" The teacher whispered. "The classroom is soaked!"

"Yes. Yes it is." Roderich nodded, now standing in the doorway of the classroom. Roderich smiled slightly, "But it was worth it."

"It was so worth it!" Alfred cheered.

"Encore!" Antonio cheered, clapping again.

"NO encores!" The principal snapped.

Roderich looked at his watch, "Three. Two. One…"

Antonio looked around, wondering where they were coming from this time.

"Turn it off!" The teacher ducked underneath her desk.

"RODERICH!" The principal yelled, as once again, the balloons started flying.

"Yaay!" Alfred stood up cheering and clapping, despite the flying water balloons. "Roderich, this was totally awesome!"

Antonio raised both hands in the air, "Class was so worth getting up for!" And it was. This was amazing.

Roderich smiled and waved at the class, who were now all laughing. The teacher crawled out from under her desk and stared at the class, before looking over at Roderich.

"I think. You surpassed Gilbert a bit. He never went to this extreme." The teacher pointed at the room.

"I like to think I made him smile." Roderich laughed. Smile? Gilbert would be laughing for a week if he had been here.

"OUT." The principal pushed Roderich out the door, "And to the office!"

"I can walk! You don't have to push!" Roderich called loudly.

Antonio kept laughing.

"Well. I don't suppose there's any reason for me to even try teaching." The teacher leaned against the desk.

Antonio looked around the room at everything that was now soaked, "Still. It made everyone laugh."

"It did." The teacher nodded, "I'll give him credit for that one."

Alfred clapped his hands together, "Oh man! He's so getting in trouble for this one!"

Hmmm…still. This gave Antonio an idea. Antonio smiled to himself. Yes, today was going to be fun.

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><p>Chapter end. :D Leave me a review!<p> 


	13. Beach balls! and Not talking to you

So now I left people guessing on what Antonio was going to do. XD Well now you're gonna get your answer. :)

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><p>.<p>

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Lovino was now sitting up, half-glaring at his grandfather. The younger sister of the…were they twins? was talking on her cell phone, with her mother by the sounds of it, while her brother sat in front of her, watching her facial expressions. Why he was doing that instead of calling their father, Lovino wasn't about to ask.

"And Lovi can talk to me." His grandfather beamed at him.

"Guess again." Lovino glared at him, "Not happening."

"Tell me what's bothering Lovi." He was pouting. Again.

"Did you have a silver-haired person in here yesterday? Silver hair with red eyes?" Lovino asked, changing the subject. He remembered Gilbert mentioning having a small class at supper last night.

"Oh, yes! He was in here…he was…different." Lovino's grandfather rubbed the back of his head uncertainly.

"Different? Different how?" Lovino tilted his head.

"He was laughing at things that most people would cry at."

"That sounds like Gilbert." Lovino rolled his eyes. It really did. He would just laugh anything off wouldn't he?

"But…he seemed upset about something at the same time."

"I have NEVER seen Gilbert upset, unless directed at the principal for being a 'stiff'." Lovino sighed.

"Ahahaha, so he has a school record?" His grandfather seemed to be enjoying this conversation. Of course it _was_ the first one they've had in a long time.

"Yeah. A very long one. Probably the longest the school has ever seen. He seems to like disrupting class." Lovino's eyes strayed around the room, anywhere but at the person in front of him.

"Maybe he just wants to have fun." His grandfather sighed, "Before his time runs out."

Lovino gave him a blank stare. Now that he thought about it, he did remember being told about Gilbert's illness, by that stupid certifiably-crazy teacher who sent him to this damn place. Lovino sighed. Well putting it that way, he supposed Gilbert was just putting life into his…life.

"So what's bothering Lovi?" His grandfather smiled cheerfully.

Lovino glared at him, "I am NOT answering that." He got a pout in response. Ugh. How was this guy a grown-up?

"You need to talk about your feelings." He continued pouting.

"Excuse me? My feelings are my own, and none of your damn business." Lovino raised an eyebrow in disbelief. There must have been a better way to word that.

"If you talk about the feelings you've kept bottled up, then you'll start feeling better." His grandfather offered, smiling once more.

"You know. That smile is exactly like Feli's and it really ticks me off." Lovino glared at him.

"Hm. Maybe this bottle is bigger than I thought." His grandfather made a face, "So there are feelings of resentment here?"

"Towards you, obviously." Lovino rolled his eyes.

"Nooooo, not towards me, I meant towards Feli! Hey…why do you resent me?" He was pouting, again.

Lovino just buried his face into his hands. Please let the others be having a better morning than me. Please.

"Tell meeeeeeeeeee!" His grandfather put both hands on Lovino's shoulders and shook him slightly.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Lovino pushed both hands away angrily. Every now and then, he could see the blonde boy look over out of curiosity, "What's his name?" Lovino asked in a hissed whisper.

"Hm? Basch." His grandfather tilted his head slightly.

"Yo, Basch. What do you keep looking over here for?" Lovino looked over at the male, "What, are we being too loud or something?"

"The conversation is distracting me." Basch answered.

"Was that supposed to be a polite way of saying, be quiet?" Lovino asked, raising one eyebrow.

Basch didn't answer, and instead went back to watching his sister. Lovino rolled his eyes.

"These feelings of resentment…explain them to meeeee."

"No." Lovino glared at his grandfather again, "Leave me alone."

"Not until you talk to me." His grandfather just stared at him with a wide-eyed expression. If he's trying to read my mind, he's going to fail miserably.

Lovino glared back at him. Staring contest.

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Antonio checked his watch. He had made it out of his first class early since it was completely soaked. Alfred was still laughing about it. Antonio shook his head, but smiled nonetheless at the blonde that was with him.

"Dude, we should totally back Roderich up on this one!" Alfred grinned, bouncing up and down like an excited child.

"Yeah, but we gotta come up with something to do during the next class." Antonio frowned. "I'm all for causing a class disruption, but what do we do?"

Alfred pouted, apparently he couldn't come up with anything either. "I always relied on Gilbert for this sort of thing."

"Feliciano is in my next class…" Antonio said quietly, "Hmm…maybe…" He tilted his head slightly.

"You have an idea?" Alfred asked, eyes sparkling.

"I do." Antonio smiled. "However, it's going to mean a disruption in the sports storage room first."

"I have a key! Let's go!" Alfred grinned. Why did he have the key to the storage room? Oh well.

Antonio and Alfred hurried off to the storage room where all the athletic equipment was kept. Alfred unlocked it with his good hand and kicked it open with his foot.

"Wow, loads of stuff in here." Antonio stared at the room wide-eyed.

"Yeah. We don't use half of it." Alfred made a face.

"Geez." Antonio wandered in and peeked in the nearest box. "Oh hello, what's this?" He pulled out a deflated clear beach ball.

"We use it for volleyball now and then. There's a bunch of them in here." Alfred shrugged.

Antonio looked at Alfred, a mischievous grin making its way across his face, "Can I use it?"

Alfred burst out laughing, "Yeah sure. There's an inflater in there too." Alfred dug it out and handed it to him, "Hopefully you sit in the back of the class."

"Yeah. No worries about that." Antonio took several of the deflated beach balls and the air pump. "This is going to be fun."

"Man, I wish I was in that class. I'm with Cruz in the next class. I should find something…" Alfred looked around the sports room, "I don't know what to do though."

Antonio held up a giant roll of duct tape, "What is this for?"

"Hm? Oh we use that on hockey sticks now and then…" Alfred's voice trailed off, "I just got an idea." He snatched the duct tape roll from Antonio, "I'll totally see you in the principal's office~!"

Antonio burst out laughing, "What are you going to do with that?"

"I'll tell you if I can pull it off." Alfred winked at Antonio and hurried out of the room, "And the classroom is empty now, I got twenty minutes to do this."

"Have fun." Antonio laughed and went off in the direction of his own classroom. He could at least get there early so he could sneak to his seat without being seen.

Thankfully when he got there, the previous class must have been in the library, because the room was empty. Antonio peered in and saw the teacher wasn't there either and happily skipped to his seat in the back corner of the room. Now all he had to do was inflate the beach balls without the teacher noticing. The rest would be a domino-effect. Antonio put everything into his desk and waited for the other students to start milling in.

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Lovino continued glaring at his grandfather. The cell phone had been passed from the sister to the brother now, and she was quite focused on watching her brother. What the point of watching each other while on the phone was, Lovino had no clue. To see if the other was expressing discomfort maybe?

"Talk to me." His grandfather repeated.

"What part of no, did you not understand the first number of times I've said it?" Lovino said flatly.

"I will not take no for an answer." The stare-down continues.

"Well then we're going to be sitting here for a looooong time." Lovino rolled his eyes, but continued glaring at the male who sat across from him.

"I will sit here all day if I have to."

"Don't you have other classes to teach?" Lovino snapped.

"I will drag Lovi along with me."

"NO YOU WILL NOT." Lovino yelled, "I'd rather be in any other class than this one!"

"Talk to meeeeeeeeee."

"NO!"

"Shhh…" Lili, the sister of Basch, held a finger to her lips, and pointed to her brother on the phone.

"Sorry!" Lovino's grandfather waved a hand apologetically.

Lovino just buried his face into his hands again. This really was turning out to be a nightmare-day.

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Antonio looked around the classroom. Everyone had mostly settled down into their seats. Well. Except for Feli who kept looking over his shoulder back at Antonio. What was his problem? The person sitting in between them obviously didn't care for the constant turning around either, because she had scooted her desk to the left some so Feli's view was unobstructed.

Antonio just looked away from Feli's gaze and watched as the teacher stepped up to her desk. Almost time. He was about ready to start bouncing up and down in anticipation.

"Okay class. I have a slideshow for you all today." PERFECT. "So I want you all to pay attention to these first few slides…" She dimmed the lights and turned on the projector that sat on her desk.

Antonio took out the first beach ball and started inflating it with the hand pump that Alfred had given him. It only took like 30 seconds before Antonio had it fully inflated. Antonio grinned and tapped the desk of the student sitting to his right.

"Catch." Antonio bounced it on the student's desk when he had turned to look at Antonio.

His classmate's eyes lit up and bounced it on to the next desk.

Antonio grinned and inflated the second one, bouncing it forward, accidentally hitting Feli on the head, though slightly on purpose at the same time. Antonio grinned as the teacher turned and the students holding onto the beachballs quickly hid them under their desks.

She raised an eyebrow at the class but turned back to the slideshow again.

Antonio bounced a third one diagonal across the desks, followed by a fourth one soon after. This was going to be SO worth it.

"Okay class. Why is it every time I have my back turned, I can hear laughing?" She paused the slideshow and turned again, just in time to see a fifth beach ball bounce across a few desks.

Antonio quickly folded his hands underneath his desk and maintained the best "innocent" expression he could manage while trying to hide his laughter.

"Why are there beach balls going around here?" The teacher yelled.

Antonio looked around the room at the students who were having fun bouncing the balls back and forth. Feli turned in his seat and looked back at Antonio once more.

Antonio met Feli's gaze this time, but didn't make any motion to move.

"Would all beach balls kindly land on the ground and STAY THERE?" The teacher raised her voice as a warning.

Antonio bounced the final beach ball next to him, watching while all the others stopped and landed on the floor.

"Thank you. No further disruptions." The teacher turned back around and turned the slideshow on again.

"Fire one." Antonio whispered. He stood up and launched the beachball, hitting the teacher in the back of the head. He quickly sat back down as the teacher turned around.

"Who did that?" She asked, speaking through gritted teeth.

No one moved.

Antonio could feel himself shaking from restrained laughter. Oh man. This was going to get him in serious trouble. Especially if she started checking the desks.

"Alright then. Let's see. I see four beach balls by desks where I told them to stay. And one up here. So someone in here inflated a fifth beach ball. All desks cleared out and on the top, NOW."

Antonio calmly put everything on the top of his desk, sliding the air pump up his sleeve. Fortunately it was compact in size. He smiled at the teacher as she looked over his desk and kept walking. The student next to him was all but in tears from laughing so hard.

"I will not tolerate class disruptions. The next person I see with a beach ball in their hand, is going to get sent to the office, is that UNDERSTOOD?" The teacher snapped, clearly not happy with not finding anything of suspicion.

Antonio inflated the sixth beach ball as she turned around again and grinned at his neighboring classmate, who had started laughing again. Antonio stood up quietly and aimed the beach ball at the teacher again.

"Do it, do it!" His classmate hissed quietly.

Antonio launched the beachball and hit the teacher again, quickly dropping into his seat. She turned around much faster this time.

"Oh now there's a sixth one? Really mature. Who is doing this? Stand up NOW." The teacher glared around the room.

"Why would someone admit to that?" Elizabeta, who sat in front of Antonio, raised her hand.

"Well unless this practical joker wants the whole class to spend the afternoon in detention…they will stand up." The teacher leaned on her desk, smiling.

"Harsh." Antonio whispered.

"Don't stand up." His neighbor hissed.

"You'd give a whole class detention for someone trying to have fun?" Antonio raised his hand.

"I would. This is a classroom, we are here to study." The teacher snapped.

"Well _excuse_ me. Why can't the classroom be a fun place to learn?" Antonio stood up. He wasn't surprised at all to see Feli turn in his seat in shock.

"I teach this classroom the way I think you all will learn the information." The teacher sighed in frustration, "This isn't being discussed right now."

"Didn't you ask the person responsible to stand up? I think it's being discussed." Antonio waved from the corner of the room.

The teacher just stared at him, "You inflated those beach balls?"

"Yeah." Antonio stared back at her, "Isn't that why you told me to stand?"

"And just what did you inflate them with?" The teacher raised an eyebrow.

Antonio held up the air pump and grinned, "You know this thing can fit in someone's sleeve?"

Boy if looks could kill, he'd be with Lovi right now. Antonio rolled his eyes and picked up his textbooks, "I know, I know! To the office." Antonio smiled cheerfully at the teacher, but didn't leave until he punted both beach balls back to the back of the room, "I'm going now."

Gilbert wasn't kidding about teachers not knowing how to have fun. Geez. Antonio sighed and hugged the books to his chest, walking to the office slowly. Well at least this day was providing more entertainment. He pushed open the office door with his foot and found it empty. He half-wondered where Roderich was, but considering the principal's door was closed, he was probably still getting lectured.

Antonio collapsed in an empty seat and plopped his books on the chair next to him. Time to wait.

"What are you here for?" The secretary blinked at him.

"I'm sure my teacher will be calling you shortly."Antonio smiled cheerfully. He looked up as Alfred wandered in, "And? How did it go?"

"Oh it went wonderfully. The teacher was so mad." Alfred plopped down in the empty chair next to Antonio, "I thought Cruz was going to fall out of his chair laughing."

"Really? He was actually laughing?" Antonio stared at Alfred in shock.

"Yeah. That was so awesome." Alfred held up two fingers in a 'peace' sign and grinned.

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><p>:D So the day goes on. If you read British Style and AWESOME Style, you'll find out what Alfred did and poor Roderich's fate. :)<p> 


	14. Office chair and DON'T HUG ME

*insert something here* No clue what to say. Just moving right along.

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><p>.<p>

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Lovino groaned inwardly. This class was showing _no signs of ending._ And to make things worse, this awful-excuse-for-an-adult wasn't letting it go by any faster either.

"Talk to me Loviiiiiii." His grandfather held out both arms, "Do you want a hug~?"

Lovino stared at his grandfather with a mixed expression of disbelief and horror, "NO. Do not. Touch me."

Roma pouted again. "Lovi needs a hug!" he sprang forward and yanked Lovino forward into an embrace.

"LET GO OF ME!" Lovino yelled, pushing with both hands to try and get away.

Lili looked over at the two, "Um…we're done on the phone…" Basch sat next to her, just staring at the two Italians.

"Oh~ excellent! How do you feel now? Any better?" Roma smiled cheerfully, ignoring Lovino's attempts to get away.

"I don't…really feel any different…" Lili sighed. Basch patted her on the back, "Just a desire to hit them."

"Ah, no, no hitting." Roma sighed.

"Let go of me, you failed excuse for a counselor!" Lovino struggled.

"I am not a failed excuse for a counselor, how mean!" Roma pouted and tightened the hug. He returned his attention to Lili and Basch, "Well now, what do you two think you should do from here?"

"Um…" Lili rubbed the back of her head.

"I'm guessing leaving is not an option." Basch commented.

"If it was, I would be so out of here." Lovino grumbled.

"Leaving is not an option, sorry." Roma smiled.

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Antonio stretched his arms out in front of him. Waiting in the office certainly took a while. And of course it seemed even longer when you were waiting for the principal. He watched as the secretary checked her watch for the goodness-knows-what-time. Antonio exchanged glances with Alfred, who grinned cheerfully. At least he looked better now than he had this morning.

The secretary stood up abruptly and started knocking on the door to the principal's office, "Mr. Smith, you have two students out here." The secretary peered into the room, "They've been out here for at least twenty minutes now."

Antonio looked at the door as he heard the principal's muffled voice speaking to…oh. It really was Roderich in there this entire time.

Smith came out of the office, forcibly pushing Roderich, "I am not discussing this. Mr. Jones, Mr. Carreido, what are you two doing here?"

Antonio smiled cheerfully at Roderich, who looked rather surprised they were there at all.

"Well obviously our teachers sent us down here." Alfred spoke up laughing, "Why would we come down here voluntarily?" Why indeed.

Roderich sat in a chair next to Alfred, instead of leaving, "Discussion is not ended."

"You are going to be sitting there a long time." Mr. Smith shook his head, before motioning into his office, "Mr. Jones."

"You know I have a first name right? Just saying." Alfred ducked past the principal.

Antonio leaned back once more. More waiting. He smiled a bit and looked over at Roderich.

Roderich looked back at him, "So what are you down here for?"

"I started throwing beach balls around in class." Antonio commented, still smiling. He started swinging his legs back and forth in front of him.

"…Why would you do that?" Roderich stared at him in disbelief. Wasn't it obvious why?

"For fun!" Antonio laughed, "And hey, it worked!"

"Well then. I will head back to class now." Roderich stood up, brushing himself off.

"What about the discussion you said wasn't over?" Antonio blinked up at him, startled. Did he forget that quickly?

"I'll let it go. It was probably just a poor choice of words on his part." Roderich shrugged, "And besides, third bell will be starting in another half hour. I should get ready." He turned on his heel and walked out of the office.

Antonio watched Roderich walk out, tilting his head in confusion. "I wonder what the principal commented on that he had a poor choice of words?" He shook his head and looked back at the closed door. Lovino would probably be having a fit right now if he knew Antonio was in the office. Antonio smiled.

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Lovino scowled at the wall that he was facing while (still) being held in a tight hug by his grandfather. This clearly was not his morning, or his day.

"Do you think talking to your parents multiple times a day could help improve the relationship there?" Roma asked, tilting his head towards Lili and Basch.

Never did much for me. Lovino rolled his eyes, but kept quiet.

"Um…it might." Lili spoke up, fiddling with the hem of her dress. Basch thought this over a moment, but nodded in silence as well.

"Good!" Roma smiled, "Then I want you two to try calling your parents a couple times each day while you're here. It can be once in the morning and once at night before you lay down. Or any other time you think works best."

"Okay." Lili smiled.

Lovino crossed his arms and continued scowling.

Basch tilted his head, "So you two are related…?"

"He's one of my grandsons~" Roma rested his chin on the top of Lovino's head, much to his annoyance.

"Hey! Get off! I'm not happy about this already!" Lovino snapped.

"Do you not get along with your family, either?" Lili asked softly.

"No." Lovino grumbled.

"Lovi's depressed." Roma pouted, "But if Lovi won't call his parents then I can~"

"Don't you dare!" Lovino yelled, struggling again, "I refuse to talk to them!"

"Someone else you want to talk to?" Roma asked, hopefully.

Lovino's face reddened, "…No."

Lili giggled, while Basch just made a sound that almost sounded like a short laugh.

"There is someone~" Roma teased.

"NO THERE IS NOT!" Lovino snapped.

"_Attention counselors!"_

Roma looked up at the speakers, startled, "Hm? What's this about now?"

"_There is a medical emergency with one of the students here at the facility. The first session will be extended until further notice."_

"Oh that's awful!" Roma muttered, "I hope the emergency isn't serious!"

"I'm stuck here. Great." Lovino slumped, "It's official. This is definitely the worst day. Ever."

"This is time we can use for bonding!" Roma grinned.

"Worst. Day. Ever." Lovino hissed.

Lili took out her phone and dialed again, "I'm gonna call mom…"

Basch nodded and watched her as the conversation began.

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><p>Ta-da! Chapter end! This was even shorter than Awesome style…sorry about that. D: Review it anyway? :D<p> 


	15. Both: How do we change exactly?

Sorry about the delay between this story updating and the others having already been updated. =_=; I got distracted (yet again) and now I'm coughing non-stop. =_= So if at least I'm sick and stuck in bed all weekend that means I can update more frequently, right? XD Unless I spend it sleeping. Oh well. Anyway, moving on:

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><p>.<p>

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Antonio waited patiently in the chair he had now been sitting in for the past 15-20 minutes. He sighed heavily. Any other day this would have happened he would be texting Lovino to pass the time by. He swung his legs back and forth and looked up at the ceiling. Can't do that now. All because of laughing to relieve some of the uncomfortable feelings that had been left behind by that assembly. Antonio shook his head and looked over when the door to the principal's office opened. He smiled slightly when Alfred waved at him before skipping out of the office.

"Alright Carreido, get in here." The principal sighed, and motioned to the door, "Hm? Didn't Roderich wait after all?"

"No. He said he was going to class." Antonio shrugged and stood up, wandering into the separate office.

"So what happened in your class?" Mr. Smith sighed and walked to his desk.

"I started throwing beach balls around." Antonio plopped down in the empty chair and stared blankly at the chair that was laying on its side by the wall. He was tempted to ask, but somehow he got the feeling he wouldn't get a direct answer.

"Why would you throw beach balls in the middle of class?" The principal sighed heavily.

"You know…" Antonio looked back at the principal, "I get that teachers have a curriculum they need to follow. They teach in the way they think is going to help the students learn the information."

The principal nodded and waited for him to continue.

"But at the same time, how are we supposed to learn if we keep falling asleep because it's so damn boring?" Antonio made a face, "Most classes are just non-stop lectures or powerpoint presentations, or stupid slideshows. And if it's not any of those three, than it's a pop quiz or a test. Can't they find some way of making it just a little more interesting?"

"So you were trying to keep your classmates from falling asleep?" Mr. Smith just stared at him.

"It worked, didn't it? And they were laughing." Antonio waved his hands around, "Look, this school doesn't have the best reputation, I know that. We get complaints all the time, I've heard Arthur and Roderich talking about it before. But maybe if the teachers brought a little more creativity to their classrooms, we wouldn't feel the need to be so disruptive?"

Mr. Smith sighed, "You do have a valid point, I'll give you that. But I'm not sure throwing beach balls was the best way to bring that point across."

"It was the best I could do on such short notice." Antonio laughed, "What do you want me to do, start singing in the middle of class? Lovi hit me over the head last time I did that!"

"Why would you…never mind. I'm not even going to ask." The principal looked at a paper that was hanging behind him that had two tally marks on it.

"Hm?" Antonio leaned over and looked at it, "What's that for? The number of students down here so far?"

Mr. Smith picked up a marker and drew another line on the paper, "Technically, you could say that." He turned and looked back at Antonio again, "If you want the teachers to have a more creative teaching style, then you're going to need to take that up with them. They don't teach creativity in college, they teach how to give the curriculum in a proper manner."

Antonio made a face, "Great. College is going to be even more boring than high school. That just made me all motivated to study."

The principal made a face in response, "What would you say your main reason for acting out was?" His expression grew to one of seriousness.

Antonio stared at him blankly. Did they not already have this conversation? "You know that assembly we had four days ago sucked. The presenter was really depressing, and there was one person I could put every single statement to with no difficulties whatsoever. If he had said about our reactions affecting the students around us, then maybe the four who aren't here now still would be. But each person reacts differently to stressful situations. I laugh it off because it helps the feeling go away, but the person I cared about is no longer here because I laughed. What the heck is supposed to be going through my head right now?"

"There was no doubt a better way to word what had been said at that assembly, I completely agree with that. I also agree with different people reacting differently to the situation. Perhaps he just had a poor choice of words." Mr. Smith shook his head with a sigh.

"Maybe he just didn't think about how _we_ would react to it. What are we supposed to do when we hear that? If we completely agree to the situation and try to do everything he said, what was supposed to happen? If anything, the same students would get embarrassed or think they were being made fun of. We reacted the way we did, and we lost them anyway. There was no way we were going to get a win-win situation out of that!" Antonio slumped back in the chair.

"Another valid point." The principal commented, "He could have thought of a different way to reach out to your classmates better."

"He could have thought by just having that assembly that some people would become depressed just by listening to it." Antonio grumbled.

"It's hard to imagine that thought _didn't_ cross his mind." Mr. Smith agreed.

"If we're supposed to change how we react to the people around us, then the way we're learning to do so is going to have to change, too. Right now there's such a pressure on good behavior and grades, that we don't have time to look at the student we've never spoken to beside us. We focus on what we do know and don't step out of the safe boundaries we set for ourselves!" Antonio protested, "Can't the school board relax the standards a little?"

"I have a meeting with them after fourth bell." Mr. Smith commented, "It's a good point to bring up to them."

Antonio looked over at the chair that was on its side again, "By the way, why is that just laying there?"

"Troubled student wasn't happy so he flipped the chair." Mr. Smith looked over at it as well.

"How come you left it like that, then?" Antonio looked at him confused.

"Sometimes the reminder serves its purpose." The principal answered.

"Huh?" Antonio looked at him, even more confused.

"Your third class will be starting soon, you can go." Mr. Smith motioned to the door.

"Oh, right." Antonio stood up and went over to the door, "Um…am I in trouble at all?" He looked back at him with a sheepish smile.

"No. Beach balls are harmless." The principal waved his hand carelessly.

"Thanks!" Antonio darted out of the room before the principal could change his mind.

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Lovino sat cross-legged in front of his grandfather, glaring at the older male, "What exactly are we supposed to be doing…?"

"I listen, you talk." Roma smiled cheerfully, "Talk away~"

"About what?" Lovino gaped at him.

"The feelings you had after the assembly. How about we start there?" Roma watched him closely.

"The only feeling I had after the assembly, was annoyance at that stupid Spanish bastard who kept hugging me." Lovino grumbled.

"Was he worried about you?" Roma asked tilting his head.

"How the heck should I know, ask him!" Lovino crossed his arms and sulked.

"Well what was he saying?" Roma looked at him rather curiously.

"Some crap about not leaving me alone." Lovino made a face.

"So he listened to the assembly and became concerned about you…and you were annoyed by this?"

Lovino stared at his grandfather in disbelief, "Antonio has such a carefree attitude, how can he be worried about anything?" That comment was rather harsh. Lovino shook his head, "I can walk to class by myself, he didn't need to make himself late by walking with me!"

"Were you annoyed that he was following you, or annoyed that you needed him to follow you?" Roma looked at him, smile gone, nothing but a serious expression on his face.

"I didn't _need_ him to do anything." Lovino glared at Roma.

"And yet…something happened that upset you, because now you're here." Roma commented.

Lovino winced, "I don't like being laughed at." He said through gritted teeth.

"Who was laughing?" Roma blinked.

"Antonio, Feliciano, and that stupid german, Ludwig." Lovino grumbled.

"What were they laughing for?"

He was going somewhere with his line of questioning, that much Lovino could tell. Lovino just stared at him blankly. "Laughing at the speaker for not being able to 'summarize' what he was saying. The assembly wasn't funny, I don't see how they even thought it _was_. And anyone who would go and kill themselves after was really messed up, as said by Feliciano." Lovino snapped.

"Okay, obviously Feli needs to use a little more care in his word choice." Roma sighed heavily, "But if they were laughing at how the speaker was talking, not necessarily the content of what he was saying, then couldn't someone argue that they were trying to laugh off the feelings that the speaker had left on them?"

Lovino opened his mouth to retort, but closed it again and just stared at Roma blankly for a moment. "Even if they were laughing it off, they could have at least thought about what someone would think if they heard them."

"Well I'm sure they're thinking about that now." Roma commented.

"A little late, don't you think?" Lovino grumbled.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. There were no actual suicides as a result of the assembly, just four students removed from school acting like they had. So in this scenario, your classmates get a second chance to react the way they should have the first time." Roma looked at Lovino with a look of concern, "And those students who _are_ depressed, get a second chance to speak up."

"Some of us don't want to speak up for rather obvious reasons." Lovino retorted.

"Obvious reasons such as…" Roma prompted.

"There is _always_ going to be people who laugh at us, because we have emotional issues. Bullying doesn't go away because of one assembly. There will always be people who laugh others down because it makes them feel big." Lovino answered flatly.

"True…and true. However, on the same wavelength, there will always be friends who stand beside you and defend you when you're being made fun of, and there are teachers who will enforce school rules on those who are bullying." Roma nodded.

"And no matter how many times someone would tell us otherwise, the feeling of embarrassment from needing help is not going to go away." Lovino added.

"Neither is the person willing to help going to go away." Roma responded, "And if for some reason they do, then someone else will stand up and take their place."

Lovino scoffed, "The feelings of paranoia of being made fun of behind your back won't go away either."

"Nor the voice of self-doubt that so many people have instilled into their mind." Roma shook his head, "You have to make just as much effort as the students who are still in school."

"And if the efforts ever turn out to be pointless, then where does that leave us at? Right back where we started." Lovino commented.

"If you ever get to the point where you feel like you're right back where you started, maybe you should find someone else to talk to." Roma made a face.

"Oh sure. And go through the feelings of paranoia with a different person. That'll work." Lovino rolled his eyes.

Roma sighed heavily.

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><p>:3 And thus endeth the chapter. Antonio might have come across as a little not like himself, sorry about that. =w=;; Review? *hopeful* that means you too, ninjas. D:<p> 


	16. Moods are south and I welcome sleep

I had more ninjas than reviewers as usual with the last chapter. =w= Oh well. I guess ninjas mean they like the story. ; w; *tugs on a random ninja person's sleeve* Leave me a revieeeeeew…

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Antonio tapped his pencil against the desk, staring at the test paper in front of him. He _knew_ these answers. They were somewhere in his head. It didn't help that Feliciano sat right behind him and would make a soft noise every now and then. Was he sleeping or something? Antonio resisted the urge to turn around and tried to focus on the test again. Okay…first question. Same question that he'd been staring at for the past ten minutes now…probably best to skip that one. Second question. Antonio glanced over it with a blank expression.

_Third question._

Antonio shook his head again. The answers were not coming. This was one test he was definitely going to fail. Antonio ran a hand through his hair and looked at the fourth question.

"Feliciano, you're supposed to be taking the test, not sleeping." The teacher suddenly spoke up from behind Antonio, causing the male to jump in surprise, "Oh, sorry Antonio."

"No problem." Antonio half-grumbled under his breath, and returned his attention to the paper in front of him. Okay so Feliciano really had been sleeping. Must be nice to be able to sleep through a test with no worries whatsoever. He became aware of the teacher standing next to him, slightly leaning over his desk.

'_Go awaaaaaay…'_ Antonio didn't look up and instead looked at the fifth question. This was not going to go well at all.

"Is there something you don't understand?" The teacher whispered quietly.

"The meaning of life." Antonio answered automatically in a flat tone.

"I meant about the test." The teacher made a face in response.

Antonio just stared at his teacher, "No thanks, I'm good." He forced a smile and turned back to the blank piece of paper that was sitting on his desk.

"Okay then…let me know." The teacher continued on, peering over the desks of the students around him as he went.

"Let you know what…?" Antonio made a face at the teacher's back and went to the sixth question instead. He didn't know this one either. Well if his track record was going to hold out then there was no point to even looking at the rest of this.

He skimmed over the questions, flipping it over to read the questions on the back. Nope. No point whatsoever. Antonio laid the paper back down and made sure his name was across the top of it before laying his pencil down. _'Failed it.'_

"If you're done, just raise your hand and I'll come pick it up." The teacher called, as he made his way back to the front of the room.

Antonio raised his hand, ignoring the confused stare from the student sitting next to him. Not anyone else's business if he decides to fail now is it?

"Are you sure you want to hand this in?" The teacher looked at the blank test.

"Well I'm not about to write down random crap and hope I get it right by luck." Antonio said flatly, handing him the paper. He was half tempted to turn around and glare at the Italian behind him when he heard Feliciano laugh. _'This isn't funny.'_

"Fine then." The teacher sighed and took the paper, heading back to the front of the room.

Antonio tapped his pencil on the desk, wishing he had brought a book along to read or something. It didn't help that he could still hear Feliciano laughing quietly. Antonio closed his eyes and tried to ignore it, but his stomach felt like it was turning and he finally turned in his seat to glare at Feliciano, "What exactly is so funny?"

"Ve?" Feliciano blinked at him, apparently not expecting Antonio to be mad.

"There's no reason to be laughing." Antonio snapped before turning back around. The teacher was standing at his desk, staring back at them, looking like he was debating whether or not to intervene.

'_Make my day.'_ Antonio thought to himself. _'I dare you.'_

"I just thought it was funny you handed in a blank test…" Feli whispered quietly.

That did it. Antonio turned in his seat again, "Really? Is it so funny because someone can't concentrate on a piece of paper and would rather fail a test after the first fifteen minutes than spend the rest of class staring at the same blank piece of paper?"

Feli blinked but didn't answer.

"Ahm…is there a problem back here?" The teacher came over hesitantly.

"There is. I'm out of here." Antonio stood up and pushed past the teacher, stalking out of the classroom and slamming the door as he left. Okay so it was a good thing he hadn't brought anything else along to class. It meant less stuff he had to carry on the way out.

Antonio slowed his pace as he went down the hall, half-tempted to throw his pencil as hard as he could just to see how far it would fly. But he kept his grip on it and kept walking. Maybe Feliciano was just better at handling this sort of thing than he was…but Lovino was his brother. The way he was acting didn't make any sense at all. Antonio shook his head and kept walking. Or maybe the realization that Lovino was gone hadn't settled in yet. Antonio stopped walking and leaned against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor.

"Great. Failed a test and now I'm skipping class. Terrific." Antonio sighed and hugged his knees to his chest, resting his chin on top of his knees. Well first class and second class were fun. Third class needed serious help. Fortunately the next one was lunch. Antonio turned his head when he heard footsteps approaching and found it to be Ludwig. _'Oh that's just great. One of the two people I do not want to talk to.' _He turned his head in the other direction.

"You haven't seen Alfred go by here, did you?" Ludwig tilted his head slightly.

"No." Antonio said flatly, not bothering to look up at the German.

"Must have went the wrong way." Ludwig looked up and down the hall before looking back down at Antonio, "Are you okay?"

"Just fine." Antonio answered. _'Why was he looking for Alfred anyway?'_

"Ja. You look about as fine as Alfred did." Ludwig commented dryly.

'_Oh. That's why.'_ Alfred must have left class early as well. Antonio shrugged but didn't respond, instead he just leaned his head back against the wall, staring down the row of lockers.

Ludwig didn't say anything either, but he also made no motion to leave.

"Aren't you supposed to be in a class right now?" Antonio asked finally, knowing full well he was being a hypocrite for asking.

"Ja. But we were dismissed early because the teacher was having a fit for some reason." Ludwig commented, "What about your class?"

"I got sick of the person laughing behind me so I left." Antonio commented, knowing full-well that Ludwig knew who sat behind him in that class.

"What was he laughing at?" Ludwig blinked, a little startled.

"Why don't you ask him at lunch?" Antonio retorted, still not looking at Ludwig.

"I could. But I'm standing here at the moment." Ludwig answered.

"Yeah well maybe you should go stand somewhere else." Antonio stood up abruptly and stalked away from Ludwig, "And leave me alone, why don't you."

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Lovino sat with his face buried in his hands in frustration once again.

"You can call them at least…" Roma pushed the cell phone a little closer.

Lovino had thrown his cell phone at Roma when the suggestion even came up about calling his parents.

"I said no, damn it." Lovino grumbled, not looking up.

"Then we can call someone else?" Roma tilted his head.

"There's no one else to call!" Lovino snapped, glaring at his grandfather.

"Then call your parents~" Roma pushed the phone forward again.

"I said no." Lovino shoved the phone back again, "I am not calling them!"

"Fine. Then I will call." Roma picked up the phone and dialed a number into it, holding the phone up to his ear and waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.

Lovino scoffed and crossed his arms, scowling.

"Hiiiiii~" Roma said cheerfully. Apparently whoever was on the other end had answered.

Lovino rolled his eyes and looked over towards Basch and Lili who were both on the phone now.

"Lovi is being stubborn and won't call you guys~"

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Lovino stared at Roma with a look of disbelief, "What the heck are you, a tattle-tale?"

"How mean." Roma pouted.

"Ugh." Lovino buried his face in his hands again. Which proved quickly to be a mistake, because Lovino suddenly found himself in a hug. Again.

"DAMN IT! LET GO!" Lovino yelled.

"That was nothing. Our counselor and the other student are just related." Basch said flatly, in a tone that Lovino and Roma could hear quite clearly.

Lovino glared at Basch, "I refuse to admit I am related to this guy."

Lili giggled in response.

"Lovi's so mean! Oh hey, how is Feliciano handling things?" Roma continued chatting away, completely oblivious to Lovino's attempts to free himself.

Lovino cursed under his breath and gave up, scowling at the wall that was opposite of where he was currently being held. The other three had to be having a better time than this. There was no possible way they weren't. Unless of course, one of them was the medical emergency. Lovino bit his lip, thinking of Gilbert for a moment.

He shook his head, but found everything got blurry after that. '_Whoa. What the heck just happened.'_ Lovino held both hands to his head but felt as though he was falling over instead of sitting up, which was impossible because Roma was still holding on to him.

"Lovi?"

Why did the voice sound so far away…crap. Lovino watched slowly as everything slipped out of focus and he found himself falling into the darkness of sleep instead. _'Well. Sleeping is better than this class anyway. At least this better be sleeping and not just plain passing out. I will NEVER live it down.'_

"Lovino!"

'_Freaking tired. Let me sleep, would you.'_

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><p>This chapter is shorter than the other three I posted. =w=; Sorry. And I'm starting to get dizzy again, so at least this is the last chapter update. =w= *tugs on ninja's sleeve again* Review. ; w;<p> 


	17. Whose fault? and Should have stayed put

I got reviews from my ninjas last chapter, *ish happy* Thank you thank you~ Nothing else to say other than thanks for the get well wishes, still not well yet. =w= Hopefully soon. Um…I think this chapter is gonna be short. Short. Short. Cuz Lovi is sleeping and Antonio is just wandering by himself.

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Antonio leaned up against a random locker. This was ridiculous. He couldn't think of anything to do that would help cheer himself up at all. He hit his head against the locker. Could always go back down to guidance…but the idea of that wasn't motivating in the least.

Deciding to at least start heading towards the cafeteria, Antonio dragged his feet along and shuffled across the floor, mentally arguing with himself about snapping at Ludwig and Feliciano.

'_It's not like it was Feli's fault for finding it funny. Some things just occur as funny to one person that aren't funny to the person it's happening to, that's all. But then again…he doesn't seem to be having a problem at all, maybe he's just better at hiding it. That has to be it, it's the only thing I can think of. I was laughing during first bell…ugh that seems so far away now.'_ Antonio held both hands to his head, shaking his head in frustration. _'Okay. So maybe Feli _does_ handle this sort of thing better than me. I was just taking out my frustration on him during last class, so that means I should apologize during lunch…like that's happening. I'm sitting as far away from them as possible!'_

Antonio shook his head again and kept walking, barely keeping track of where he was headed. He rounded around a corner and found himself face-to-face with Roderich…and…Ludwig.

"Oh not_ you again._" Antonio scowled at Ludwig and stalked past them. Roderich looked like he had wanted to say something to Antonio but he didn't bother stopping and just kept going. He'd look for Roderich at lunch, right now, as much distance as possible in between himself and Ludwig. _'What is with him and Feliciano anyway? How do they even get along? Ludwig shows almost no emotion whatsoever, Feli you can tell instantly what he's thinking just by looking at the expression on his face. Ugh…I think Gilbert's not liking Ludwig may have rubbed off on me a bit…'_ Antonio peered down another hallway he was passing and realized the cafeteria entrance was down it. "Oh." He quickly redirected himself and headed for the doors, even though he knew the bell hadn't rung yet. "It's only another couple minutes until lunch time anyhow. It shouldn't matter if I'm early."

He leaned against the wall outside the cafeteria, quite happy to see that neither Ludwig nor Roderich had followed him. Come to think of it, why wasn't Roderich in class anyway? Oh well. Antonio stared at the wall in front of him. At least now he had time on what to decide to get for lunch!

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Lovino looked around himself blankly. If this was a dream, it was certainly the strangest one he's ever had. What the heck is this place even supposed to be? Lovino scowled at his surroundings. It was just a long, seemingly never-ending hallway that stretched way out of sight no matter which way he looked.

"What, am I supposed to choose which one to walk down? Is that what this is about?" Lovino crossed his arms and scowled, "I've heard of being at a crossroads before but this is ridiculous. There's not even a sign of which path is which." Lovino looked up and down each hallway, but didn't see a difference in any of them compared to the ones that were one either side.

"Well I'm not about to go eenie, meenie, miney, mo." Lovino sat down on the floor and just glared down the hallway he was facing. "Whatever this dream is, it can make more sense or I'm just going to sit here until I wake up!"

Every now and then he would turn his head to glance down another hallway, but the view never seemed to change.

"_But you're not going to get anywhere if you stay right where you're at either."_

Lovino made a face and stood up, "Oh now someone decides to speak up." He glared around himself once more, "Well then, where the heck are you?"

"_Can't you see it? You can't always tell what lies ahead of you. But if you stay where you're at all the time, nothing is going to change."_

Lovino made a face, "Ugh. Fine whatever. I'm going." Lovino threw his hands up in the air in frustration and stalked down the hall he had been facing the entire time, "I personally don't think this is going to make a damn difference though."

"_The attitude of a pessimist…"_

"Oh shut up. I don't care if I'm a pessimist!" Lovino snapped, "And it's really annoying having a voice following me but not showing itself!"

"_How can a voice show itself? A voice is to be heard not seen."_

"I meant the person speaking, and you know it, smartass." Lovino retorted hotly, but he kept walking anyway.

"_What's obvious to one person may not always be obvious to another, isn't this correct?"_

"Yeah, yeah I know that." Lovino waved a hand around carelessly, "But what I said was rather obvious, I don't care how oblivious someone is, there's no way you would have misunderstood that!"

"_That wasn't my point. You thought they were laughing at you."_

"Is that what this is about? If I had known that, I would have stayed back in the room I started in." Lovino grumbled, "Great. I'm dreaming and it's the exact same lecture I would have gotten when I was awake."

"_Are you so certain they were laughing at you? You thought it was obvious they were, but maybe you misunderstood the situation."_

Lovino scowled, "How could that situation be interpreted as anything else?" He was becoming rather tempted to start running just to see if he could get away from the voice that was following him.

"_You called him careless, but maybe it was because he cared that he was laughing. If that assembly struck him as something he should be careful of, he might have been trying to laugh it off to make the tension go away, isn't this right?"_

Lovino made a face, "You jump to whatever conclusions you want."

"_I will take that as a yes."_

"Your words, not mine." Lovino said flatly, and kept walking.

"_Were you mad at him because he followed you, or because you needed him to follow you?"_

"Oh not this again! Look, voice wherever the heck you are, I didn't need him to follow me! I didn't need him for anything!" Lovino yelled, turning around and facing the empty hall he had walked through.

"_If you keep standing where you're at, and denying everything, then nothing around you is ever going to change. And this hallway will keep stretching on with no end in sight."_

Lovino ran a hand through his hair in frustration. This was NOT his morning. "In other words, the result was the same no matter what I did, so I should have just stayed back there!"

But no answer came.

"Oh great." Lovino turned around again and kept going forward, "Now I'm talking to myself."

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><p>…Short. Short. Short. Sorry. DX Leave me a review anyway~ ; w ;<p> 


	18. It's a secret and Not with grandpa?

So it's now Lunchtime (for those of you who have been keeping track) for the students who are still in school and not playing dead (those who are playing dead will unfortunately find themselves back in class, with the exception of Lovino [who passed out from exhaustion] and Gilbert [who is still in the hospital]). :3 So, moving on~

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><p>.<p>

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Antonio balanced his tray to an empty table in the corner of the lunchroom. It was the table Roderich usually sat at, hopefully he wouldn't change his mind just because Antonio was seated there. He sat on the side of the table that was farthest away from the line, just so he could keep an eye out for Roderich coming out of it. And hopefully Ludwig wasn't still with him. Why had they been together anyway? Antonio shook his head and started taking his plastic silver ware out of the plastic wrapper.

"Psst."

Antonio looked up at the teacher who was talking to him, a little surprised.

"Here, these are for Roderich, could you give them to him for me, please?" She placed a large stack of papers down on the table, "Just tell him they're the copies he wanted for Student Council."

"Oh, sure." Antonio nodded.

"Don't tell him who dropped it off. I have an idea of what he's doing, and it sounds like way too much fun to put a stop to it!" The teacher laughed and hurried off.

Antonio blinked and looked at the papers, "What…is he doing?" Antonio shrugged and shifted the stack of papers so they were sitting on the chair beside him, hidden underneath the table. At least that would keep anyone from sitting on that side of him. Now he just had to find something for the other chair. He looked behind him and found one of the janitors had left one of the mop buckets leaning up against the wall.

He leaned over and pulled it across the floor, picking it up with ease and setting it on the empty chair. Problem solved. Antonio smiled and went back to focusing on his lunch.

Roderich came over and sat down across from him, giving him a quizzical look on the mop bucket that was sitting on the chair. Antonio just smiled cheerfully in response, "Oh hey, someone said you wanted these." He picked up the top piece of paper and handed it to Roderich, who took it looking rather confused.

Roderich seemed to glance over the paper before brightening up a bit, "Who dropped this off?"

"Dunno. Some person who dropped 'em here and kept right on going." Antonio lied, stirring the soup and crackers around in his bowl. Suddenly this felt familiar. Like it just happened yesterday…that's because it did. Antonio made a face and started sipping the soup with his spoon.

"Oh. Well then, this helps a lot. How many copies are there?" Roderich asked, laying the paper down beside him.

"A lot." Antonio looked at the stack that was next to him.

"Perfect. Just need a few more things then." Roderich picked up a notebook (Antonio decided it was probably sitting on his lap this entire time) and tapped his pen against it, looking down whatever was written on the paper in front of him.

Antonio looked up to see him giving a sideways stare to the mop bucket, "What?"

"I may need to borrow that." Roderich commented, "That would work perfectly."

"If you want it, go for it. It's just holding that chair down." Antonio responded, and continued to sip his soup. Second day in a row they served tomato soup now. Lovino would be absolutely loving this. He smiled a bit at the thought of Lovino and glanced up to see Alfred plopping down beside Roderich.

"Oh there you are. I was looking for you." Roderich half-glared at him, "Where on earth did you go during last class?"

"Huh? Oh sorry. Just felt the need to get the heck out of there. It's all good, I'm feeling better." Alfred waved a hand cheerfully.

Antonio tilted his head. Something must have happened, because all of a sudden Alfred was cheerful. And a lot moreso than he was this morning, even after the water balloon incident. Roderich seemed to notice this as well, but he didn't question it.

Alfred leaned over Roderich's shoulder, "Is that the list of stuff?"

"Yes. We have most of it so far…" Roderich tapped his pen at random points on the paper.

'_They must be planning one heck of a distraction in class if it involves a mop bucket and a bunch of papers.'_ Antonio shook his head but didn't comment out loud.

"Oh I can get the arrows. Do we need bows, too?" Alfred blinked.

"What the heck are you guys doing?" Antonio just about choked on the soup.

"Plotting." Roderich smiled, "Bows would be helpful, unless you know of some other way to make the arrows fly through the air."

"Bow and arrows, check." Alfred smiled, "I got the key to the equipment room, still."

"Good. That will come in handy." Roderich shifted his pen again, "Hm….then…I think we're set."

"Sweet! Hey Antonio, you're gonna help us pull this off, right?" Alfred looked at him expectantly, eyes sparkling.

"Uh…" Antonio looked at Alfred, hesitating, "Is this something that's going to get me in trouble?"

"That would depend." Roderich closed his notebook and set it on his lap.

"On what?" Antonio stared at Roderich.

"On how fast you run." Cruz sat two seats away from Roderich, leaving one empty in between them. For what reason, Antonio couldn't see. Maybe Roderich had school supplies sitting there.

"Oh this is sounding like a heist and a half." Antonio looked down and realized he had finished his soup without even paying attention to what he was doing.

Alfred, meanwhile, was munching on the burger he had gotten, "Dude it's gonna be awesome! You totally gotta join up with us!"

Cruz twisted open the bottle cap of his drink and gulped it down. Roderich gave him a quizzical look, but Antonio was too distracted by Alfred to hear what Roderich was saying.

"Yeah…but…I narrowly missed out on detention the first time I was in the office…" Antonio mulled the idea over, thinking of the consequences of getting caught.

"Oh, look at it this way, your punishment if we get caught is going to be absolutely nothing compared to mine for putting it together in the first place." Roderich spoke up.

'…_only live once…'_ Antonio tapped his spoon against his plate a couple times, "Sure, why not. Might as well have some fun before the day is over."

Roderich smiled, "I appreciate the help. Are we all done then?" He looked back and forth between everyone's trays.

"I am." Alfred smiled cheerfully. (Antonio would never figure out how Alfred managed to eat so fast without choking on a single thing)

"I guess so." Antonio finished off his drink. _'Seeing as how I finished off the soup without realizing it.'_

"Yeah." Cruz shrugged and twisted the plastic bottle in his hands.

"Good, then we're off to the student council room. Oh, Antonio, bring that bucket with you." Roderich motioned to the yellow bucket.

"Sure. Should I just put the stack of papers in here?" Antonio glanced inside. The bucket was completely dry.

"That'll work. And save me from carrying it." Roderich smiled.

"Then we're off!" Alfred grinned and stood up, picking up his tray.

"Off to get ourselves in major trouble…" Cruz grumbled, standing up and heading for the trash can.

"Oh what's life without a little fun in it?" Roderich followed along behind him, taking his tray and Antonio's.

Antonio smiled and placed the papers inside the bucket, using the little handle to steer it easier out of the cafeteria. He got a few stares, but he just smiled at the people who were staring and kept going. He was a little surprised he didn't get stopped by any of the teachers though. Something told him that teacher who had dropped the papers off, also left the bucket behind the table on purpose. _'I wonder if Roderich showed her the paper at some point? But why wouldn't she want herself associated with it? …it would probably make her lose her job…'_ Antonio shook his head and kept going towards the student council room. _'Please don't let me run into Feli or Ludwig~'_

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Lovino stirred slightly, blinking open his eyes to discover he was in his "room". He sat up slightly, propping himself up on his elbows, and looked around him. The room was empty, except for himself, and no note or anything could be seen.

"Well then. Guess this means I can just sleep guilt-free." Lovino plopped back down and buried himself under the blanket. Better yet, with no person sleeping in the bunk above him, he actually _could_ sleep. Even if it meant listening to that annoying voice again.

Lovino cursed under his breath but closed his eyes anyway. He was probably going to find himself right back in that damn neverending hallway again. He listened to the silence around him. Either they were all still in the first class of the day, or he had woken up after the class change. It wasn't time for lunch yet though, according to his watch, so at least he wasn't missing that. Lovino briefly wondered how Antonio was doing back at school but slapped the back of his head for even thinking about it.

"I am not thinking of that stupid Spanish bastardo." Lovino cursed again and buried his face into the pillow. Sleep was going to come, whether it be naturally or by passing out _again._

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><p>:3 And thus be the chapter! Short-ish sorry. I will do my best to keep things fresh from story to story, but all four of them were sitting together. The beginnings are gonna be different…I shall do my best to keep thoughts and opinions to a maximum so it makes it a little more enjoyable. :D Review me? You too ninjas and ex-ninjas~ :D<p> 


	19. This is fun! and Gah, he's back

Oh by the way guys: I hate to say this but, if I stop updating for a while, please don't think I gave up on the story. =w=; More than likely I wound up in the hospital. The bug I have is going around and it's what happened to my coworker's daughter because an infection set in. So I'm short one infection (thankfully) of being somewhere without internet access. Just a warning for you all. :3 Moving on to happier things~ XD

_Italics-_ memory, k? Seemed the easiest and least repetitive way to do this chapter. Prepare for long-ness.

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Antonio hastily used the air pump from earlier to inflate his…what number was this anyway…beach ball. He sat on the floor in the hallway, in front of a janitor's closet. Once inflated, he yanked open the door and threw the ball in, and quickly shut the door again before any others could escape. Next.

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"_Antonio, you're going to be using your beach ball idea again. There's a janitor's closet at the top of the stairs, just outside the library. Put as many inflated beach balls as you can in there, and tie a rope around the doorknob so you can pull it open as you run by." Roderich smiled at him._

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Antonio inflated another one as he watched a female teacher, the same one who had handed him the papers at lunch, went by carrying a table. She smiled at him cheerfully and kept going.

"Where is she going with that?" Antonio blinked, but continued what he was doing, "I'm amazed she didn't ask me what I was doing." He flung the beach ball in the closet behind him and shut the door again.

After stuffing the last beach ball inside, and having some difficulty closing the door, Antonio leaned against it with a sigh of relief. He looped a rope handle around the doorknob as instructed and leaned against it, humming, while the bell rang.

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"_Whatever you do, do not let someone pull it while they're going through the halls. The results of that would be catastrophic, and set us back a lot."_

.

He pretended to be staring off into space as students went by him, ignoring any who stared at him out of curiosity (or for whatever reason they had to be staring at him). Fortunately nobody he actually knew went through this hall after lunch, so he was saved from any conversation starters.

Antonio waited until the last few had trickled by and sighed in relief again. "Okay." He walked casually by the library doors, switching the lock on them as he went.

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"_Find a way to keep everyone inside the library until the events are over. The last thing we need are spectators that can give our identities away."_

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That was easy enough to do. Antonio grinned as he walked around the corner, he always wanted to mess with the lock on that, just to tease everyone inside the library. Now they were all stuck there, at least until Antonio went by the second time. He wandered over to his first station, which was ducking behind a trash can, with a silver pot full of tomatoes sitting beside him.

"Ready." He kept his head tilted slightly, listening for any sounds of someone coming near him. He watched as the same female teacher went by, skipping happily, carrying a silver pot similar to his own. Antonio watched as she went by and vanished around the corner, "…is she helping us?" He blinked and heard shouting and quickly turned back as Alfred appeared running around the corner.

"They're coming, and mad!" Alfred called as he went running by.

Roderich had definitely picked the right person for the running role. Alfred could run faster than any of the four of them. Antonio smiled, "Ready to fire…" Antonio pulled on a hat to cover his hair and most of his face and waited for the adults to arrive. He spotted the first school board member and flung a tomato at her.

_Splat!_

"Got one!" Antonio cheered, and instantly started flinging tomatoes as fast as he could, "I wonder how many of them there are…" He tilted his head as he was throwing. Oh. Now wasn't the time to get careless. Antonio shook his head and kept flinging. He peered in the pot and found it to be empty. "Okay. Time to scoot." He grabbed the pot and send it sliding across the floor, successfully tripping several of the school board members.

Antonio hurried around the corner, as Roderich joined up with him, "This is going to get veeeery loud." Antonio laughed.

"Indeed!" Roderich smiled cheerfully, "And hopefully our legs don't give out on us."

Antonio flipped the lock as he ran by the library, and grabbed hold of the rope, yanking it as he hurried by. He glanced back over his shoulder to see the beach balls all spilling out and bouncing all over the place, "Success!"

"How did you fit all those in there?" Roderich asked in amazement.

Antonio only grinned and kept running, barely listening as Roderich told Alfred to run. He didn't blame Alfred for wanting to stop and catch his breath, the blonde barely took a half a minute to run up the hall that Antonio had been in moments before.

As Alfred branched off to the left, Antonio kept going until he saw the ramp to the right and ran down it, kicking over both buckets of water that had been sitting at the top as he went.

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"_Antonio as we're running, you take the ramp to the right. It'll be directly after the hall to the left, which Alfred will be taking to make his escape. There will be buckets of water set up at the top of the ramp, tip them both over as you're going and run for your fifth class."_

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Antonio smiled and grabbed the railing as he reached the bottom, keeping his momentum going to spin around and run down the hall, while the water spilled down the ramp and across the floor.

"This is clearly a good day to not have gym!" Antonio laughed and kept going. Just up ahead he could see Alfred go into the classroom, the picture of calmness. Antonio laughed at how calm Alfred could appear after all that running, "Hopefully no one is right behind him~!" Antonio reached the door and shook his head, trying to calm down and pulled the door open. "Sorry I'm late! My locker wouldn't cooperate!" Antonio laughed nervously and shut the door behind him. The teacher didn't even look up, she just nodded her head and continued reading her book. Antonio walked with a slight bounce in his step over to an empty seat in front of Alfred and plopped down, letting out a large exhale. That felt way too close for comfort.

"And the answer is?" Alfred whispered quietly.

Antonio turned to look at him, smiling broadly, "That was hilarious~" He whispered in response, keeping his voice down so no one would wonder what they were up to.

Alfred grinned in response and gave him a thumbs-up, "I wanna hear the assembly after this!"

'_Oh and there's sure to be one. If we don't get caught.'_ Antonio smiled and watched as several school board members ran by the closed door, tomatoes evident in their hair and on their faces. He suppressed the urge to laugh and faced front again.

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Lovino opened his eyes, stretching out his arms above his head. He yawned and sat up, narrowly missing hitting his head on the top bunk. Turning his head as movement caught his eye, he blinked and found himself looking at Roma.

Roma grinned at him, "Good morning~"

"…" Lovino continued to stare at him in silence.

"Er…I guess it's afternoon now isn't it? Good afternoon~!" Roma ruffled Lovino's hair.

"Afternoon…but not time for lunch yet." Lovino swatted his hand away.

"Not yet. Another fifteen minutes." Roma smiled, and ruffled Lovino's hair again.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Lovino yelled.

"Lovi's lively! Yay!" Roma laughed, "I was worried after you passed out~"

"…I didn't pass out. I fell asleep." Lovino retorted, refusing to admit to anything that sounded like something was wrong with him.

"You passed out." Roma repeated.

"Fell. Asleep." Lovino glared at him.

"Passed out." Roma stuck his tongue out at Lovino.

"How old are you again?" Lovino stared at him in disbelief, "What kind of adult goes around sticking his tongue out at teenagers?"

"A fun one!" Roma cheered.

Lovino buried his face in his hands and let out a quiet whimper, "Why…why do I have to be related to you…"

"If you weren't related to me, you wouldn't be Lovino~" Roma laughed.

Lovino let out a frustrated sigh, "What do you want?" He didn't look up from his hands, though.

"For you to talk. Let out your bottled up emotions~ Confide in meeeeee~" Roma tugged on Lovino's sleeve.

Lovino looked up long enough to glare at him before burying his face in his hands again. _'I wonder if the others are having as much 'fun' as I am.'_

Roma tugged on Lovino's sleeve again, pouting.

"Okay. Look. I don't have 'bottled-up emotions' as you call them. I don't outwardly show my reactions to whatever is happening depending on the situation, but I do NOT have bottled-up emotions!" Lovino snapped.

"So you need to show your emotions more! Be more honest!" Roma didn't let go of Lovino's sleeve, but at least he stopped pouting.

"…" Lovino just stared at him, "I am not going around acting like Feliciano."

"I said show your emotions more. I didn't say act like Feliciano." Roma sighed.

"He shows his emotions." Lovino rolled his eyes.

"Ah…he shows them a liiiiiiittle too much." Roma laughed nervously, "Some emotion showing is good, too much and people will start to think you're annoying or making fun of them."

"…you're really giving me a confidence boost here." Lovino said sarcastically.

"…" Roma pouted again, "I'm trying."

"I am well aware of that." Lovino sighed.

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><p>Not as long as british style but at least it wasn't short! :D leave me a review~<p> 


	20. Funeral March and Stupid grandpa

Thank you to all my lovely reviewers! I love you all~ :D

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Antonio had his head laying down on the desk, sleepily staring at the wall of the classroom. At least in between panic modes (with the occasional enraged looking school board member stalking by the door) he could have some quality thinking time. Which of course was making him tired. So he had over-reacted a bit with Feliciano laughing earlier. Antonio was just in a slightly bad mood due to forgetting everything on that test, that was all. Antonio nodded to himself. And Ludwig had just caught him while he was in that same bad mood. That was all.

Antonio blinked when he felt himself being tapped on the shoulder, and lazily turned his green eyes back towards Alfred.

"Oh man. Dude check your phone!" Alfred was grinning, looking like he was trying hard not to laugh, "The message is hilarious!"

Antonio took out his phone and looked at the one new message that was flashing on the screen, "Hm? From Cruz?" He opened the message and laughed.

_**One of you all can come up with a plan to get me out of this bathroom later. I'm staying put for now. Had a way too close call already.**_

Alfred leaned over his desk so he was closer to Antonio, "We gotta get him outta there. If he gets caught we're all in trouble!"

Antonio smiled cheerfully at Alfred, "Cruz wouldn't rat us out~" At least Antonio hoped he wouldn't. But then Roderich wouldn't let him join in on the prank if he even thought for a minute that Cruz would do something like that if caught. How did Cruz get cornered into the bathroom anyhow? Those school board people must really be able to run!

Alfred just stared at him with a straight-face, "You're joking right? The guy hates me."

Antonio looked at Alfred, unsure, then up at the clock, "Well…we still have like thirty minutes of class left…we're going to be stuck here a while. Hopefully Roderich can get to him."

Alfred nodded with a sigh, "Yeah. I hope Roderich's in a better situation than he is. Oh we didn't even hear anything from him, I hope he got away…"

Antonio frowned and faced front again. Hopefully Roderich had gotten away. Otherwise he was in a lot of trouble. Roderich had the most to lose out of this one, especially if they found out he had been the one planning it all along. Oh…he had almost forgotten. What was that teacher doing? Antonio tilted his head. It didn't make any sense. _'She gave me the copies that Roderich had wanted…there was that yellow bucket behind the table at lunch…and I saw her carrying a silver pot that looked like mine down the hallway…was she helping us?' _Antonio shook his head. Roderich hadn't mentioned anything about a teacher assisting them in any way.

"_Attention students."_

Antonio looked up at the speaker.

"Uh-oh. That's not good." Alfred muttered from behind him.

Antonio had to admit, Alfred voiced his thoughts pretty well. You could tell just from the speaker's voice that whoever it was really annoyed.

"_Obviously we have some practical jokesters in this school building."_

"Doesn't every school have a class clown?" Antonio blinked. The reaction was automatic, though he really should have tried harder to suppress it considering the situation they were in.

"_As of noon, most of you would recognize this time as the start of your fifth class, there were several students NOT in class."_

Antonio raised both eyebrows, even though the speaker obviously couldn't see or hear him, "Well some of us can't make it to class on time every time."

His teacher looked at him over the top of her book, "Just ignore whatever it is. It doesn't apply to anyone in this class, I'm sure."

Antonio felt his face redden, it was a good thing the teacher instantly went back to reading her book. _'Yeah…but I'm pretty sure it does.'_

"_As of noon, the school board showed up in front of the school. And promptly got a welcome from several of the students. By means of bow and arrow."_

Antonio nodded quietly. Yup. The person speaking was definitely annoyed. He looked around the class and found some were just staring at each other, or the announcement system, in disbelief. Alfred, on the other hand, was staring out the window, as if he had no clue what the person was going on about and it didn't pertain to him at all. Antonio almost laughed.

"_One of these arrows did damage to a car that was parked out front of the building. And upon entering the building, the school board members, as well as the principal, discovered that the front lobby had been completely covered in water and soap."_

"Someone trying to save the janitors some trouble?" Their teacher finally looked up at the speaker system.

'_Damaged a car…?'_ Antonio blinked. _'Okay, either Roderich or Cruz had really bad aim.'_

"_When attempting to give chase to the hooli-student responsible for this, we had buckets of water poured down the stairs, fell down the stairs, had a bucket kicked down the stairs at us, had tomatoes thrown at us, had beach balls come flying out of nowhere…"_

"Is this our principal or a member of the school board?" Antonio asked, raising his hand slightly.

"I have no clue." Their teacher frowned, "Whoever it is, needs to calm down. This sounds like harmless fun to me."

"_Had more tomatoes thrown at us, and when pursuing a student down a ramp, slipped on water and slid the whole way down and across the floor!"_

Antonio tried very hard to suppress the grin. It worked! It totally worked!

"_And now, that we have been searching the halls to discover them to be completely empty…"_

"Surprise." The teacher commented, "Like students who would go that far in planning wouldn't have a way to get out of it."

Antonio became uncomfortably aware of a couple students turning to look at Alfred and himself. _'It wasn't us…it wasn't us…'_

"Dude…we should probably save Cruz and Roderich…" Alfred leaned forward and whispered, "Cruz is gonna get expelled for sure if he gets caught…"

"I don't wanna get in troubllleeeeee…" Antonio whimpered.

"Be a hero~" Alfred grinned.

"I don't wanna be a hero!" Antonio protested, "I wanna stay in school and pretend I'm a well-behaved person!"

"_We are giving the students behind this act exactly TEN MINUTES. To get to the office."_

"What is that?" The teacher motioned with both hands, "You seriously expect someone to stand up and admit it was them to their entire class, AND go down to the office?"

Antonio sunk in his seat a bit, he could feel Alfred patting him on the shoulder.

"We should take this one for the team…" Alfred whispered.

"_If no one comes in ten minutes, then punishment will follow to all students found to have participated in this little charade!"_

*click*

_**STAY WHERE YOU'RE AT. DO NOT MOVE. They don't have anything that says it was us!**_

Antonio looked at the text from Roderich and shifted in his seat to look at Alfred.

Alfred had his own phone out and was looking at Antonio, "What do you think?"

"I think my parents are gonna be grounding me for the next year and a half." Antonio sighed heavily.

"Kay~ let's text Roderich and tell him we're staying put." Alfred tapped out a message on his phone.

Antonio whimpered but complied anyway, "We're lying?"

"Yeah. Hopefully Roderich and Cruz don't down to the office. We're taking one for the team." Alfred responded, still whispering.

Antonio sighed heavily and put his phone away.

"We can do this man." Alfred held out his hand, "Take one for the team. We are heroes."

"We are so in trouble…" Antonio embraced Alfred's hand for a moment before very slowly getting up out of his chair, "I'll be in the office if anyone needs meeeeee…" He trudged out of the room, dragging his feet.

"Farewell~ you all have been a wonderful class to sit with~" Alfred waved with both arms before exiting, kicking the door shut behind him. He slung his arm around Antonio's shoulder, "We're gonna march into that office like we don't regret a thing~!"

"It feels like a funeral march." Antonio sighed, but slung his arm around Alfred's waist, "But fine. I'll put on one more act for your sake." I can put on one more act.

Alfred grinned, "Good. Then put on your best smile, because we're going through with this!" He turned his head, "Do you hear the sound of something?"

'_Is he changing his mind already? …oh. No. I do hear something.'_ Antonio looked over his shoulder, "Yeah. It sounds like someone clapping…" He stared when he saw their study hall teacher standing out in the hallway clapping, "Oh geez."

"Hey, now I really don't regret a thing! She's clapping for us!" Alfred grinned and waved his broken hand at her.

'_He was regretting it before…or at least thinking about regretting it.' _Antonio sighed, but stopped to wave as well, though his face turned red when slowly some of their classmates came out and started clapping behind their teacher, "Now it's just embarrassing Alfred." _'Can we go now? I've never been in such a hurry to get to the office in my life!'_

"Thank you all~" Alfred called before skipping down the hallway, slinging his arm around Antonio's shoulders again, "See that? That's that makes a hero stand up! It's not for the glory, it's for the people who appreciate what he does~"

'_Every now and then…Alfred says the right thing.'_ Antonio laughed, "Yeah. Even if the hero gets EXPELLED."

"Expulsion or not, we can do this!" Alfred skipped around the corner, humming as he went, "I wonder how long they're gonna stand there and clap."

"Who knows." Antonio responded, though he couldn't hear the clapping anymore. It was probably because they were out of hearing range, rather than they stopped clapping. Something was telling Antonio they were still standing back there clapping. "The office…it's in sight."

"I forgot how close we were to it, man." Alfred winced, "Not regretting a thing!"

Antonio stared at Alfred, "Who's taking the fall for coming up with the whole stunt?" We really should have thought of that before now.

"We both take equal blame." Alfred said automatically. Oh. Maybe he did think about this.

"Can do." Antonio nodded slowly. _'Just two friends. Taking one for the team.'_

Alfred put his good hand on the handle of the door to the office, "Ready?" He asked quietly.

"Ready as I'm gonna be." Antonio braced himself for whatever was going to happen on the other side of the door.

"Bring it on." Alfred twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

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Lovino sat at the lunch table, glaring rather grumpily at his grandfather who sat across from him. The one good thing about lunch today: pasta. Lovino twirled his fork around his plate, scowling. Fortunately Arthur showed up not that long after and sat down next to Lovino.

… Lovino turned to stare at Arthur, "Why are you carrying that?" He pointed rather accusingly at the yardstick.

"It became necessary." Arthur responded, quite calmly, as if carrying a yardstick was only natural, "Who is this?" Arthur looked between Lovino and Roma.

"Oh that's my idiota grandfather." Lovino grumbled, "_Apparently_ he's a counselor here."

"Oh, really? What class do you teach?" Arthur picked up his drink bottle.

"It really doesn't have a name. But if you have a class that has three students in it, that would be mine. I try and help the students repair the emotional bond that may have gotten severed with their family." Roma smiled.

Arthur promptly spat out the drink right after Roma spoke. He coughed repeatedly, hitting himself on the chest with his fist. Lovino stared blankly from Arthur, to the bottle he was holding in his hand, then back to Arthur.

"Is it that bad?" Lovino gaped at him, about to take a drink himself.

"No, that wasn't the drink, my apologies. Let me tell you this." Arthur pointed his fork rather threateningly at Roma, "Do not ever attempt to repair any emotional bond between me and my family. It is not going to happen."

'_Well if someone gets my vote for creepiest threat ever. Is he seriously going to try attacking him with a little plastic fork?_' Lovino snorted and took a gulp of his drink, "I tried telling him that already."

Roma pouted, "Your family is the most important thing for someone to have~" He smiled cheerfully as Matthew sat down next to him, "Hello there!"

Lovino glared silent daggers at Roma as he started a new conversation. _'That last comment was directed at me, damn it.'_

"Eh…hello." Matthew looked at him, "Who are you?"

Arthur grumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'damn counselors' and started eating.

"I'm Roma, Lovino's my grandson~" Roma patted Matthew on the head, "You look like you slept well!"

Lovino snorted and continued eating in slow and small bites. Might as well savor the taste. Seriously doubted he was going to get pasta any time soon in the next century or so, because obviously he was going to be stuck here a _long_ time.

"Eh. I just woke up." Matthew reddened, "Oh. That's right. Thanks Arthur." He turned to the Englishman, "For staying at the nurse station with me."

"Hm? You're welcome." Arthur smiled, "You didn't miss much in that last class we had anyhow."

Lovino looked at the yardstick again, doubt showing in his eyes and voice, "Clearly we all missed something. Hey, where's Gilbert at?" He glanced around, "he's not here yet." Normally the albino would have plopped himself down already, if he wasn't the first one here.

Roma blinked, "Hm? Gilbert? He's in the hospital. He was the medical emergency this morning."

'_Wait what?'_ Lovino stared at Roma in shock.

Arthur promptly started choking on the mouthful he apparently had, "Say something like that with a little more care, would you?" He yelled, after managing to swallow.

Lovino had to admit, he was completely in agreement with Arthur. Things like that should be said with a lot more care, and a little more thought beforehand.

Matthew stared at Roma in disbelief, "E-eh…is he okay?"

"He's fine, he's fine. His father's with him at the moment!" Roma smiled.

Lovino tapped his fork on the plate, thinking back to the conversations they'd had with Gilbert the day before, "Uh… I thought he lived with his mother."

Matthew nodded in silence, "That's…what he said…"

"Regis has been in town the whole time. He and Gilbert's mother just found each other shortly after the mission for change at your school started, so Regis came here to talk to Gilbert." Roma started munching on the pasta he had on his plate.

'_Well. Nothing like being told by the father you thought wasn't around that he was here the entire time.'_ Lovino thought rather sarcastically, though he bit his tongue and didn't say it out loud.

"Well. I imagine Gilbert's morning was not entirely to his liking then. Especially not if he's in the hospital now." (_'Well then. So much for the hope that they were all having a better morning than I did._' Lovino rolled his eyes and continued eating) Arthur took out his phone and glared at the name that was flashing on the screen, "And I do wish he would stop calling me."

"Oh? Who's he?" Roma looked over at him, eyes sparkling curiously.

'_Here it comes.'_ Lovino recognized the look of someone who was about to interfere.

"Stupid older brother." Arthur stuffed the phone back in his pocket, fuming slightly, "He's been calling me non-stop."

"He wants to talk to you, you should answer~" Roma cheered happily.

'_Yup.'_ Lovino nodded, having fully expected that.

"NO." Arthur growled.

Lovino looked at Arthur, "Don't bother. He doesn't comprehend what no means."

"That explains a lot." Arthur grumbled.

Roma pouted, "How mean! I know what no means! It's what stubborn people say when they won't talk to someone who could actually help them."

Lovino felt his face grow hot and he bristled instantly, unable to hold his temper anymore. "You are the rudest, most inconsiderate, lousy excuse for an adult I have ever met!" Lovino yelled.

"I love you too, Lovino." Roma sighed.

Lovino made strangling motions with the air in front of him and started stabbing the leftover pasta on his plate. _'Stupid idiot! How can he even call himself an adult? He should at least think before he speaks!' _Lovino munched on a bite of pasta. _'…I'm a hypocrite.'_ He munched on the fork for a minute, thinking quietly to himself. _'I yell at him for not thinking before he speaks…what was that letter I wrote then about Antonio, Ludwig, and Feliciano…what about the text I sent Antonio…freaking hypocrite…'_

"It was much quieter in the nurse station…" Matthew whispered, so quiet Lovino almost didn't hear a word the blonde had said.

"Mhm." Arthur agreed.

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><p>:D Ta-da! A chapter update draws to an end! Leave me a review~<p> 


	21. Seriously? and I don't want to!

So even though fanfiction hasn't sent me the email about updating the last chapters I put up (as of Friday, but I got them this morning *saturday now XD*), we are moving on to happier (yeah not really) subjects.

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><p>.<p>

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Antonio followed behind Alfred into the office. Might as well let the person who thought up this brilliant idea go first. Antonio watched as Alfred walked over to the writing desk as the secretary regarded them over the top of her glasses.

"Can I help you two?" The secretary asked, tilting her head upwards to look at them through her glasses, "Or did you get sent down here for misbehaving again?"

"Actually we're here about the announcement." Alfred leaned on the secretary's desk.

"Yeah they kinda announced loud and clear for the people responsible to come to the office, so here we are." Antonio walked over and stood next to Alfred, though he didn't lean on it like his friend. No point in getting comfortable in a chair when they were about to get the lecture of their young lives. _'My ears are going to have blisters for sure.'_

"So you are." The secretary frowned, "One moment. I'll tell Mr. Smith and the board members you're here." She stood up and walked over to the closed door.

Antonio watched as she leaned her head close to the door, looking as if she was listening to see if there was any conversation going on at the moment. He smiled a bit as she knocked on the door. At least they could get this over with quickly. At least he hoped so. Well. They would be able to go into the office soon, somehow Antonio doubted a lecture was all they were getting, and it certainly wasn't about to be a short one.

"Mr. Smith, the two students claiming to be responsible are out here…" The secretary opened the door and peered in.

Antonio shifted nervously. All of a sudden he was getting a really bad feeling in his stomach. _'Just focus on a happy place…'_

"Right here with ya, man."

Antonio turned to stare at Alfred when he felt his shoulder being patted reassuringly. Ordinarily he would have just laughed it off, but now he found himself unable to do anything else other than just stare at the reason for them both being down here in the first place. _'Just had to be heroes. We couldn't just sit in study hall. We had to be heroes…thanks a lot Alfred.'_

"You two can go in." The secretary walked away from the still slightly open door and back to her desk, "Good luck." She smiled cheerfully at both of them and sat down in her chair once more.

"Thanks~" Alfred smiled at her and all-too-happily went over to the door of doom.

"Going to need it…" Antonio muttered before following along behind Alfred in a less-than-thrilled manner, "Find a happy place…"

"Oh cheer up. We have no regrets~" Alfred patted him on the shoulder again.

"Right. No regrets." Antonio stared at Alfred in disbelief. How could he even be so carefree about this? They were practically throwing their entire school life away! Their records were NEVER going to be clean of this one. Heck they would be lucky if they didn't get charged with something for damaging property. That last thought didn't help. Antonio whimpered but followed Alfred into the office, hearing the door shut behind him as the sound of a jail cell door. _'Find a happy plaaaaace!'_

"You two again?" Mr. Smith stared at them, clearly not happy.

Antonio was a little relieved to see that the entire school board was not present in the room, rather it was only four of them. The others must be elsewhere in the building, which meant they would probably be coming down here. Great.

"Us again~" Alfred smiled cheerfully, "Someone called, so we answered!"

"Well at least you two are willing to step up and take responsibility for your actions!" One of the female school board members huffed angrily, "What you two did was irresponsible! Someone could have gotten seriously hurt!"

"Could have, didn't." Alfred shrugged, "Like we really would go that far without thinking of that already. Why do you think the water was poured down the stairs before whoever-that-was got more than three steps up?"

Antonio had to admit, that was quick thinking on Alfred's part. But that probably wasn't the original reason he poured the water down the stairs so hastily. More like, knock him back down and run for it with the extra time.

She didn't seem to have a response to this, so Antonio shifted his gaze to the next person who spoke up, complaining angrily, "There were arrows shot at us for crying out loud!"

"They were soft-tipped arrows." Antonio spoke up, finally finding his nerve and his voice, "They couldn't hurt you no matter if there was a master bowman shooting them or a novice bowman. They bounced off of your head. You can't honestly tell me those hurt."

"T-They punctured a tire of one of the cars we got here in!" His voice wavered slightly, giving Antonio the impression that they were winning this argument as well.

"Ever hear of a spare tire? And if whoever it was wouldn't have moved, then maybe the tire wouldn't have been shot." Antonio took a shot in the dark at that one. Roderich and Cruz wouldn't intentionally aim at a car, right? _'Hopefully I didn't just blow that. Either way, they should have a spare tire.'_

Mr. Smith remained quiet during the arguments going back and forth. He just remained quietly sitting at his desk, watching the scene play out.

"Then what about the tomatoes thrown at us? And the silver pots!" The next board member stepped forward angrily.

Alfred spoke up before Antonio did, "Food fights happen all the time…what did you get hit with a rotten tomato or something? They're soft either way."

Antonio stared at Alfred in disbelief. _'Did he really just compare what we did to a food fight? And throw in the comment of a rotten tomato on top of it?'_

Nonetheless, she backed down, and so the final school board member (or at least the last of those in the room) stepped forward, "You dumped soapy water all across the main lobby, and set up a trip-rope in the hallway!"

"Well now you can't honestly tell me that you know for sure it wasn't a careless janitor who might have forgotten you guys were coming, but I'll let that slide." Antonio shrugged, well aware of the stares he was getting for that first comment, he continued on, "But really all we did with that was save the janitor the trouble of cleaning it later, it's not like we dumped anything harmful on the floor, it was just soap and water, and that can easily be skated across, and even if you did fall, all you would end up with is a wet backside." Antonio looked at the school board members, one at a time. None of them seemed to be arguing with this. _'Good. Now just one left.'_

The four school board members turned to the principal, unsure of what to say.

Mr. Smith just tapped his pencil on the desk, staring at both Alfred and Antonio, "Somehow…I have a hard time believing you two came up with this entire scheme."

Antonio inwardly panicked, but attempted to not show it his face at all. _'Crap…Alfred you can handle this one, right?'_

"Yeah I guess two students who are managing to pass all of their classes with no problems, except for this morning where both of us flunked a test because we couldn't concentrate, probably in part due to my brother and our three friends committing suicide the other day, couldn't possibly pull off a prank of this magnitude by ourselves. It would have only taken the both of us like five minutes to pull it off. One handles the first floor, and the other the second floor. You can't honestly tell me it would take more than that to accomplish this." Alfred spoke up.

'_WAS BRINGING OUR FRIENDS INTO THAT REALLY NECESSARY?'_ Antonio gaped at him.

Mr. Smith wasn't fazed by this, though all four board members instantly took several steps back away from Alfred, "So who dumped the glue in the conference room?"

"I did." Alfred said without hesitation, "I also dumped soapy water in the lobby, set up both trip ropes, and dumped water down the stairs. Oh and the bucket of water on top of the conference room door, that was me, too."

Antonio sighed, "I filled the janitor's closet with beach balls, shot arrows at the school board members while they were getting out of their cars, and threw tomatoes at them when they were coming up the hallway. And kicked over buckets of water while running down a ramp to get to my class." _'Really when we list it all like that…it makes it sound like we're a couple of idiots…'_

"The second barrage of tomatoes?" Mr. Smith asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That was me! I took the hall to the left and threw tomatoes before going to my fifth class." Alfred smiled.

Mr. Smith slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead, "You two…"

'_We are soooo busted…'_ Antonio thought, but didn't waver from his position. _'I hope Roderich and Cruz don't come down here…'_

"Then answer me one more question." Mr. Smith said finally, after rubbing his temple in frustration, "Why?"

Alfred looked at Antonio, who just returned the stare. _'Why. Why is a good question. And now it's my turn.'_ Antonio looked back at the principal, "Why? You're asking us why."

"I am." Mr. Smith raised both eyebrows.

Alfred looked at Antonio with an expression that clearly said What-are-you-about-to-say? Antonio ignored it and looked over at the school board members, glaring at them for a minute before turning his head back to the principal, "You're asking two students why we started and finished a prank on the members of our stupid school board."

"Stupid…" The female on the right, who had been the first to start the argument when they had come in, stared in disbelief now at Antonio.

"I've had this conversation with you before today." Antonio said flatly, "And I will repeat it. There is such pressure on us students from you all," Antonio glared at the school board members again, "For us to have good grades. And why? This is supposed to be the best years of our life, at least that's what my parents told me, but honestly I can't see that happening. Every day is the same thing. We come to school, we're forced to learn things in the most boring way possible and we go home to study for a test on a pointless subject that we might never use again the rest of our life."

Alfred was just staring at Antonio in shock, actually it looked like _everyone_ was staring at him in shock. But he continued on.

"I had a best friend, up until three days ago. He was always complaining about how school was boring, and so was I. We could agree on that no problem, but now he's not here anymore. Because of an assembly we had _four_ days ago. And you even said yourself at the assembly the following day, that it was because of our reactions to that first assembly that they were no longer here. We had four students commit suicide here, because of the way we were taught to react to that kind of situation." Antonio looked at the school board again, "What are we supposed to do? That speaker told us to talk to the ones we thought were suffering, and I did. I honestly tried. But he killed himself the next day because he thought I was making fun of him! He didn't say my name in the letter, but I know damn well it was directed at me!"

Now Alfred looked ready to cry. Probably shouldn't have brought up those letters.

"We react to situations the way we are taught to. And now we learned, too late, that there are some situations that we need to find, and are allowed to find, some other way to react, to stop someone before the unthinkable happens. I laugh at situations that are stressful for me, it's how I relax, I didn't think that he would ever even get the idea that I was making fun of him. What the heck am I supposed to do now? If I continue doing the same thing I've always done, then how am I supposed to stop it from happening again? If we keep doing the same thing over and over nothing is going to change!" Antonio was waving wildly with his hands at this point. _'Now I feel like I'm about to cry!'_

Mr. Smith reached behind him and took a sheet of paper off the wall, one that Antonio recognized, and held it silently in front of him, showing the side with tallies to the others in the room, "I have had six students and one teacher down here today."

Alfred silently counted the small lines on the paper with a blank expression, "There's one tally for every person?"

"First line was Roderich Edelstein. He threw water balloons, as you two well know, in his first class, and quoted Gilbert Beilschmidt's letter in saying that there were teachers who needed to learn how to live a little." Mr. Smith said quietly, "The second line was Alfred, who duct-taped his entire classroom in an attempt, and a rather successful one, to disrupt class and prevent another powerpoint from being shown."

Antonio noticed Alfred seemed to brighten up at that statement. He smiled a bit and turned forward again.

"The third line, was also Alfred. For stating that his main reason for acting out was to cheer up his brother's best friend."

'_Now he looks more embarrassed than anything else.'_ Antonio chuckled a bit.

"The fourth line was Antonio. Who threw beach balls around and prevented the teacher from maintaining control on her classroom." Mr. Smith looked at the student he was talking about, "The fifth line, is also Antonio."

Antonio blinked, "Hm?" _'I got two lines as well?'_

"You not only made an attempt to break the monotony of class, you also spoke out against it and provided a number of valid arguments against the speaker who was here, as well as your teachers and their teaching styles." Mr. Smith continued to hold the paper, his voice not wavering at all.

Antonio tilted his head in confusion. It seemed like the principal knew exactly what was going to happen all along. _'But that's impossible isn't it?'_

"The sixth line belonged to a teacher, Mrs. Rose, who spoke in defense of her student's actions, because he was defending his friend when hitting another." Mr. Smith tapped the paper on his desk, "The seventh line belonged to Cruz Rodriguez."

"Oh he was down here, too." Alfred looked like he was forcing the smile on his face at this point, probably in part due to Antonio's long (and slightly rambling) response to their principal's question.

"He punched his ex-girlfriend because she was insulting him as well as his best friend, who is no longer here." Mr. Smith said quietly.

Antonio frowned. Cruz sounded like he had a bad day. Well at least they were keeping him from getting into any more trouble.

"So now…" Mr. Smith turned the paper around so the tallies were facing in his direction, "This brings us to the end of another attempt of yours to try and turn things around at this school." He looked over at the four school board members, "And as I've said before, the students here may act out from time to time, but they always…" He looked back at Alfred and Antonio, "Always. Have a reason for their actions."

Antonio blinked. The principal was actually defending them to the school board. Couldn't that type of thing cost him his job or something? He looked over at the other four adults in the room, who were looking at the principal with expressions that could either go with disbelief or amazement.

"These two, despite your attempts to make them feel guilty, have countered every single argument you could come up with. The plan was well-thought out, despite the tire incident, but that is indeed what spare tires are for. And despite knowing the consequences of their actions, they came down anyway." Mr. Smith looked over at the school board again, "Here we have two students willing to take full responsibility for their actions, and all they did was have a little harmless fun."

Antonio looked back at the principal, still feeling slightly numb. _'I can't believe this. I'm dreaming back in study hall right? This feels like it's absolutely not real.'_ He glanced at Alfred, meeting his gaze momentarily before they both looked back at Mr. Smith. _'And it's completely Alfred's idea that we were down here in the first place.'_

"I have no intentions of punishing either of these students." Mr. Smith said, quite calmly, laying the paper down on his desk.

Antonio's eyes widened in shock. They weren't getting suspended…they weren't even getting a detention. _'Heck we don't even have to clean up the tomatoes or mop up the water? Seriously?'_

Mr. Smith reached behind him and took a second paper off of the wall, that Antonio realized he hadn't even noticed until now, "I didn't think the time would come when I would take the paper off of the wall this soon. But I do believe the time has come."

"Huh?" Antonio tilted his head. What was on the paper?

"You two can go back to your study hall. At least you decided to do something of this magnitude in a class where you wouldn't miss anything…but don't. Do that again." Mr. Smith glared at both of them.

"Yes, sir." Alfred gave a sort of lopsided grin before starting to edge towards the door.

Antonio remained frozen in place for a minute before following after Alfred. He could barely feel his legs moving. Did that seriously just happen? "Is this seriously okay…?" Antonio whispered once the door had shut behind them, "And what was that second paper?"

"I don't care if this is okay or not, I don't care what that paper was, being heroes rocks!" Alfred was now grinning widely, "See? That wasn't even that bad."

"I can't believe we didn't even get a detention." Antonio gaped at Alfred, "How was that…" He looked back at the closed door, staring at it in confusion, "It feels like I'm asleep and this was just a dream."

"A totally awesome dream." Alfred gave him a thumbs-up, "Let's go back to study hall~"

"Yeah. Let's go back to the people who were clapping." Antonio rolled his eyes but followed Alfred down the hallway, "I still can't believe this." _'And I really have no intentions of going back to a class that was clapping after we left.'_

"Oh hey…" Alfred glanced behind them before dropping his voice to a whisper, "Maybe we should help Cruz while we're not in class…"

"Oh yeah…that would probably be best." Antonio chuckled a bit. _'Can't just leave him stranded in the bathroom.'_

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Lovino glared at Roma, who was sitting happily at the foot of Lovino's bed. Why he couldn't sit on the floor or somewhere else was beyond Lovino's range of thinking. Why did he even have to follow them to their room anyhow? Lovino crossed his arms and scowled. Stupid stubborn grandfather.

"Excuse me…" The nurse, Lovino only recognized her due to being in there the day before, peered into the room, "I have an announcement to make for you three."

"Huh?" Lovino stared at her in disbelief. If this was about Gilbert, they already knew. And why would the nurse be telling them that anyway?

"Your principal called, you four can go back to class tomorrow." The nurse smiled cheerfully.

Arthur's eyes widened, "That was fast! We were only here a couple days!"

"We can go home!" Lovino let out a breath of relief and threw both hands up in the air, "Oh thank you!" He barely missed hitting them on the bed above him, which Roma chuckled at.

"Eh...that'll be nice…" Matthew was now sitting straight up, Lovino could have sworn he was sleeping a minute ago, "It…it's really okay that we go home now?"

"Yup!" The nurse continued to smile, "Gilbert will be attending with you three tomorrow, you four have one last assembly to give to the school."

Lovino gaped in disbelief at the nurse. _'She's joking right? I am not giving any type of speech to the entire student body!'_

"Oh no." Arthur moaned and instantly laid back down on the bed, "I knew it was too good to be true."

"What's this assembly about?" Lovino asked, dreading the answer to his question. He didn't even know why he asked, the answer was rather obvious.

"You have to tell your classmates you're alive. Otherwise they'll think they're seeing ghosts." The nurse responded, looking at Lovino with raised eyebrows, "So the principal will be holding an assembly tomorrow that _all four of you_ will be speaking at."

"Eh?" Matthew whimpered, "Do I have to?"

"Gaaaaah…" Lovino moaned, collapsing backwards on the bed. Of course that's what they had to do. Bad enough he was regretting that letter he had written, and now this.

"You guys can do it! I have faith in you~" Roma cheered.

"DON'T." Arthur and Lovino both yelled in unison.

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><p>Told you all the end was coming soon. :3 One more (possibly two) chapter(s) after this~ Leave me a review~ :D Sorry about the continuous talking for those of you reading both Lovino Style and British Style.<p> 


	22. I won't want to speak at the assembly!

Here we go~ There may be a time skip or two here. ._.; I'll post it in _~Italics~_ if there is one, k? :3 and more than likely have the long lines going across. XD

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><p>.<p>

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Lovino scowled at the ambulance he was supposed to be climbing into. He really did have to go back the same way he had come in. "Damn it."

"Hang in there Lovi~" Roma patted him on the shoulder cheerfully, "I'll stop by and visit soon!"

"Oh sure you will." Lovino grumbled, still glaring at the back of the ambulance. The doors were open, they were just waiting for him to get in. But the memories of driving over the bumpy roads while riding on that stupid cot was keeping him from climbing up.

"I will be there tomorrow." Roma said, determined, one hand gripping onto Lovino's shoulder tightly.

"…Thanks." Lovino sighed, before finally crawling up and into the ambulance, "I don't want to ride in this."

"I'll trade." Matthew peered around the doors, "Please?"

"I'm good. You have fun in your hearse." Lovino smiled and waved, "Good luck with that."

"Ehhh…I don't want to ride in that thing…" Matthew looked over at it, "I didn't have the casket the first time."

"I suppose they're really going all-out with this aren't they?" Roma laughed, "Sirens and everything?"

"Yeah. I had sirens the first time at least." Lovino grumbled, climbing up onto the cot, "And the white sheet."

"Ah! Poor Lovi! Don't treat him like he's dead!" Roma panicked, flailing his arms around.

"I'm not dead. Chill." Lovino rolled his eyes as the attendant in the back pulled the white sheet up to Lovino's chin and fastened him to the cot, "I feel stupid though. Isn't this thing needed for emergencies?"

"Oh this ambulance crew only does the running back and forth from schools to the facility! No worries." The attendant smiled cheerfully, "Same with the hearse crew. That casket was never actually used."

"I'm sure Matthew would be comforted by that." Roma commented.

"I'm sure." Lovino grumbled, "Off we go…"

"Good luck, Lovi!" Roma waved ecstatically, "I promise I'll come visit tomorrooooowwww!"

"Yeah yeah." Lovino would have waved, but his arm was underneath the strap, "Bye grandpa."

"Byeeeeeee!" Roma continued waving even as the doors shut.

Lovino stuck his tongue out at Roma through the small rectangular window that was in the back of the door, "No one from school is gonna see me come out of this thing, right?" He glared at the attendant.

"Not if we cover you with the white sheet entirely." The attendant laughed.

Lovino grumbled under his breath, "Just peachy. Going back to school tomorrow to tell them I'm alive, but first! One more bout of pretending to be dead. No problem." He laid his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. _'Stupid mission for change.'_

Lovino kept his eyes shut while the ambulance bounced over the roads, "You know…"

"Hm?" The attendant didn't look up from his fake clipboard.

"You all could at least drive on paved roads. Just saying." Lovino commented.

"Sorry." The attendant started laughing in response to his comment. Lovino opened one eye and gave the attendant a glare.

"I'm serious here." Lovino grumbled, closing his eye again, "I'm getting serious motion sickness."

"Oh? Should we get something from the hospital staff then?"

"NO. With my luck someone I know will be there."

"We can cover you with the white sheet…"

"No thank you." Lovino cursed, "I'll be fine. I'll just take an antacid when I get home."

"…you're spending the night in the hospital…you know that right?"

"I do now." Lovino glared at the attendant, "Thanks. A LOT."

"No problem. White sheet?" The attendant held up the ends of the sheet, just long enough to tuck under Lovino's head.

"Might as well~ Go the whole nine yards." Lovino gave the attendant a sarcastic smile. "Because I would never live it down if someone I knew was in that waiting room."

"Okay! We're just about there, so I'm covering you up then!" The attendant pulled the sheet up and over Lovino's head, tucking it under but making sure not to strain his breathing at all by pulling it too tight.

'_Stupid mission for change.'_ Lovino rolled his eyes. _'Stupid playing dead…'_ He remained perfectly still as he felt the cot being lifted down and onto a gurney. _'Here we go. Again.'_ Lovino gave a mental sigh as he watched the shadows go by through the white sheet. He could at least have his eyes open while underneath the sheet, it wasn't like someone could see through it, thankfully. _'If we're spending the night in the hospital, how is Matthew getting here? Through the morgue? That's just creepy.'_

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><p>Time skip of about ten minutes<p>

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><p>Lovino drummed his fingers on the bed he was laying on. Fortunately he had a full TV set up. And judging by the three other empty beds in the room, it wouldn't be long before the others were here as well. Matthew should be coming soon, Lovino thought he saw the hearse pull out behind the ambulance. Lovino looked over as a nurse came in pushing a gurney with someone covered by a white sheet. "Oh? Which body is this?"<p>

"Matthew Williams!" The nurse smiled and pulled the sheet off, "Okay, Mr. Williams, you can hop onto the bed." She unfastened the clips that were holding him to the cot and Matthew quickly moved onto the bed, looking all-too-grateful that he was off of the gurney.

Lovino waited until the nurse had left the room before looking over at Matthew, "And how was your casket ride?"

"I NEVER want to do that again." Matthew shuddered, "I mean, they had blankets in there, and the top of the casket wasn't on, but I felt like a vampire, that was creepy!" He buried himself under the covers and peeked his head out, "How was your ride?"

"Not that bad. If you ignore the fact that not a single road was paved." Lovino rolled his eyes and flipped through the tv channels, "At least we got tv in here! Missed this thing."

Matthew laughed lightly, "I hope Gilbert will get here soon…" He looked around the room anxiously, "I wonder what's taking Arthur so long…?"

"Who knows. Maybe his ambulance got a flat tire over that unpaved road." Lovino grumbled. "I still can't believe you rode in a…oh here's someone."

Matthew watched as the same nurse who had brought him in pushed another gurney over to the bed beside Lovino.

"Here you are. You can move over to the bed now." The nurse smiled cheerfully.

"Oh gee, may I?" Gilbert crawled onto the bed, and under the blankets, "Thanks. You didn't have to bring the Stiff in with you though."

"He was accompanying you though…we had to give him a ride as well…" The nurse faltered a bit.

"Ja, ja. Whatever." Gilbert scowled as she left the room, "Hello people~" He smiled cheerfully at Matthew and Lovino, "Hey where's Arthur at?"

"Not here yet. He might be giving the ambulance crew a hard time." Lovino raised an eyebrow at Gilbert, "Who were you calling stiff?"

"Him." Gilbert motioned at the door as Regis wandered into the room.

"…Eh." Matthew looked at him.

"So where the heck is Arthur at?" Lovino scowled, "Geez. Oh yeah, what'd you ride here in Gilbert?" Lovino looked back over at him again.

"A hearse." Gilbert rolled his eyes, "Complete with casket."

"You weren't the only one after all." Lovino looked back at Matthew, who started laughing again.

"Eh, I guess not! That's a relief! Those things aren't comfortable at all." Matthew smiled.

"So what are we doing at this assembly tomorrow, just showing up?" Gilbert asked, rather blatantly ignoring the male who was now sitting next to him.

Lovino made a face, "I'd be happier _not_ showing up."

"I think we'd be in trouble if we didn't…" Matthew sighed.

Lovino looked over as another gurney was pushed in, with the white sheet covering the person's face, "Arthur Kirkland I presume."

"Oh do shut up." Came the muffled voice underneath the blanket.

"Und a jolly hello to you too." Gilbert laughed.

Once Arthur was settled onto the bed, after much grumblings on the Englishman's part, Lovino looked around the room once more. Gilbert was the only one with company…company who looked very much like a blonde german from school, "…" Lovino stared at the person sitting next to Gilbert, "So…I take it…you two are related after all?"

Gilbert just glared at Lovino in response, "He's a bigger stiff than Ludwig."

"Excuse me…" Regis glared at Gilbert.

"You're excused, by all means, leave." Gilbert motioned to the door, "Shoo."

Lovino flumped back against his pillow. It was going to be a long day if this was going to be the afternoon portion of it. The morning dragged on long enough, "Oh. By the way, Gilbert."

"Hm?" Gilbert glanced over at him.

"Grandpa says hi~" Lovino forced a smile, "He was that stupid counselor you were complaining about?"

"Oh, ja, Roma? That's your grandpa?" Gilbert burst out laughing, "He reminded me so much of your ditzy brother, too!"

"Ditzy…" Lovino blinked, "Feli is ditzy?"

"Well what else would you call him?" Gilbert stared at him blankly.

"Eh…" Matthew looked over at Arthur, "It feels kind of strange to think we're going back to school tomorrow…"

Lovino grabbed his pillow and pressed it to his face, "I don't want to speak at an assembly damn it!"

"Ja. And suffocating yourself is going to do what exactly?" Gilbert remarked.

Lovino scoffed through the pillow but didn't respond. His mind drifted briefly to what the principal could possibly even want them to say before he threw the pillow in frustration at the foot of his bed. "What are we even supposed to say tomorrow?"

"Ta-da?" Gilbert raised his hands partway.

"I will buy you lunch if you do that." Arthur said flatly.

"Deal!" Gilbert grinned, "Totally going to now!"

Regis just sighed and shook his head.

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><p>8D One chapter done! Read the others for more fun! (lame rhyme was really lame XD) Yeah it's gonna end up being two chapters. Sorry for no Antonio in this one!<p> 


	23. Reunion: Stupid hugging idiots

Anime/Manga » Hetalia - Axis Powers » **Life with Lyrics Lovino Style**

Author: yellow blaze

Rated: T - English - Friendship/Romance - Reviews: 133 - Published: 01-28-12 - Updated: 04-04-12

id:7781895

So here we go with the final chapter. :3 I did my best to keep it upbeat, though there are some somber moments in it as well. Happy endings for all~ :D See if I can make the other two any longer like I did with Canadian style by writing British style after it and deciding to add stuff in. XD These are going to be long. Long. Long. But I wanted to post them all together. :3 Sorry for the wait.

Procella, Youjustgotiggyrolled, ScienceWolf, UK's Only, Ellenthefox, SpiritOfTheMapleLeaf, Oceanfur, Fekete (and all you other names I can't remember at the moment)... you guys are awesome. You kept reviewing over and over. Thank you. :3

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><p>.<p>

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Lovino drummed his fingers, mostly in annoyance, on the table in front of him. They were supposed to be reading the words written by their classmates in response to finding out about their "deaths". But Lovino had stopped just short of reading signatures due to one that took up almost the entire bottom of the scroll. He scowled and re-read it for the second time.

_**Loviiiiiiiiii- Please tell me this is a bad nightmare. Please tell me I'm going to wake up and be napping in class and you're swearing at me for doing so! Please tell me this isn't happening! You were. . .cute. Sure you swore a lot and yelled at me a lot, but you were still cute. Those angry faces of yours were adorable to see. I wasn't making fun of you, I swear. Just…please…you're coming back right?**_

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. And why the hell is he calling me cute? Lovino glared at the wallscroll, making a mental note to hit Antonio over the head later. But at least he had written that he wasn't making fun of Lovino…that helped a bit. Lovino sighed and looked over the scroll again, spotting another signature that stuck out, but not because of what was written. More of how it was signed.

_**Lovino- I know we never spoke, but I know you had a brother. And I know you're with mine now. So I'll be friends with yours if you be friends with mine, deal? –Resident Hero**_

Who the hell signs something "Resident Hero"? And who the heck is that? "Well…I seriously doubt either of Arthur's brothers would put that…so that leaves...Ludwig didn't know he and Gilbert were related, at least not that I know of, and Ludwig certainly wouldn't sign something as ridiculous as that. So that of course leaves Alfred." Lovino nodded, then felt stupid for taking so long in figuring it out, honestly how many times had he heard Alfred yell "because I'm the hero" during class or in the halls?

Lovino sighed and continued looking over the scroll.

_**Fratello- I know the secret already, mom and dad told me, and it's okay! I can't wait until I see you again, but that letter that was read to us…you meant that didn't you? We weren't laughing at you! We were trying to cheer ourselves and you up, you looked really depressed after the assembly! It wasn't at you, honest! Please come back!**_

Lovino hit his head on the table. Only one person would call him "fratello" so it was rather obvious who it was even though the person hadn't bothered signing his name. His gaze shifted to the right and saw a more neatly signed signature. That was obviously Ludwig. His was at least easier to read…come to think of it. Lovino wasn't even expecting the stoic german to sign _any_ of the scrolls.

_**I know we didn't talk much to each other, unless Feliciano or Antonio was there with one of us, but even still, your not being here at the lunch table anymore is going to make it seem really strange. Antonio was really upset about your passing…I can't write the other word, sorry. He cried out during the assembly this morning when the principal read your letter. We weren't laughing at you. It was never our intention to drive you to something this drastic. – Ludwig**_

I take back what I said about Antonio's. Ludwig's message is even longer. Lovino sighed. He was wondering if Gilbert's dad had told Ludwig at all. It would be almost amusing to see Gilbert's scroll to see if Ludwig signed it. But he probably wouldn't let Lovino anywhere near it. Lovino folded up the scroll and bonked it on the table in front of him. Reading what everyone wrote was just going to make him emotional before the assembly. Best to give this with a clear mind.

"I'm going to be starting the assembly soon, can you come here?" The principal peered into the room, forcing Lovino out of his thoughts.

"Yeah sure." Lovino followed along behind, feeling the nervousness starting to settle in his stomach like a rock. _'Damn it.'_ He noticed Gilbert was already standing there, actually he was the first one there, the principal must have been giving him a warning, that or threatening him to behave, and it was probably the second option.

Lovino threw his scroll on the table next to Gilbert's and stood next to the unusually-silent male. It was making him wonder if Gilbert wasn't nervous as well, but he seemed calm outwardly. Just his eyes seemed to make it look as though he was somewhere else but here. Lovino tilted his head, wondering what Gilbert was thinking about. Lovino spotted Arthur coming into the room with the principal directing him over, before leaving the room again.

Lovino tapped his foot, well aware he was tilting his head back and forth. It wasn't helping his thought process any either. Think of something to say when you're on stage. Think of _anything_ to say when you're on stage. Obviously an apology was in order for the letter he had written, that much was obvious. But how were they supposed to go out there without any reaction from the audience as to who they were? Lovino shook his head sighed. Why did they have to speak at all? Couldn't they just let Gilbert go _ta-da_ and go on their merry way?

Lovino looked up again as Mr. Smith returned with Matthew. Mr. Smith started to head for the stage, "Alright. Let me go out there and start this off. Oh." Mr. Smith turned back towards them for a moment, glaring at Gilbert in particular, "And NO wisecracks. Remember these people thought you were dead."

Mr. Smith turned away from them again and walked out onto the stage towards the microphone. Probably to start doing that annoying sound-check.

"I can't believe we're back here…" Gilbert whispered, finally breaking his silence, "So unawesome…"

"Well, all it'll take from you is another prank to get suspended right?" Arthur asked rather calmly. How could anyone be so damn calm?

"Pft. Whatever." Gilbert responded. Okay so apparently Lovino was the only one freaking out about this. Even Matthew didn't look fazed. Whatever. Lovino shifted his weight from one foot to the other, still mentally panicking about what to say while he was on stage. There had to be something he could come up with besides a very crappy apology!

Matthew leaned slightly to peer around the curtain, "I wonder how this is going to go…what are we saying?" He glanced back in their direction, voicing what Lovino had been wondering all along.

"No clue." Arthur sighed, he glanced over in Lovino's direction, but Lovino didn't have the energy to snap at him.

"Eh…" Matthew whispered.

"Cheer up man. You're not alone." Gilbert clapped Lovino on the shoulder, grinning.

"I-I don't want t-to speak…" Lovino whispered through gritted teeth, "Damn it…" _'This is not going to go well if I'm stuttering already.'_

Arthur shook his head, "Then who is going first?"

"Rock-paper-scissors?" Gilbert asked.

"No. I am not going first." Arthur spoke up (rather hasty about it for appearing so calm), "And obviously Lovino isn't."

'_Thank you.'_ Lovino sent him the silent mental word of thanks, even though Arthur couldn't possibly hear it. As long as he was not going first, he didn't care…as much.

"Eh I guess it's me. Gilbert should be the comic relief at the end with his Ta-da." Matthew laughed quietly.

"Sweet!" Gilbert pumped his fist into the air, "You all are gonna let me do it~"

'_Your funeral when the principal catches hold of you.'_ Lovino shot him a look out of the corner of his eye before going back to his thought process.

"Fine, then I'll go second. Lovino are you going to be okay third?" Arthur looked over at Lovino again, frowning slightly this time.

"Sure. I'll figure out something to say by then…" Lovino shrugged. At least he could speak now without having an audible problem with nervousness.

Lovino cursed quietly under his breath and started pacing back and forth, still trying to figure out what to say. Even if he was going third…well maybe he could just listen to what the other two said before him and get an idea. That would help. Lovino nodded to himself and stopped at the same spot he had been standing in before.

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.

Antonio sat between Alfred and Roderich. He would have had no problems whatsoever no matter where he was sitting, and was rather surprised that Alfred didn't mind sitting next to Cruz. Those two didn't get along at all…usually. Maybe things changed the past couple days after all. Antonio glanced to his right. He could see Ludwig and Feliciano further up the row, but neither one of them (fortunately) had looked around them, so they hadn't seen him…yet.

Antonio glanced forward as the lights dimmed and the tapping on the microphone started with the soundcheck just about over. Hopefully this assembly was better than the last two they had.

"Students…family members. Once again I call you down here. I am sure the assembly is still fresh in your minds from the other day. The one that took four of your classmates away from you, and today, we are gathered here for that same reason." Mr. Smith looked around the room.

"Not again." Cruz grumbled, "Don't tell me someone else did this."

Antonio let out a quiet moan and sank in his seat. He noticed Roderich went from outwardly calm, to a definite look of worry and dread on his face. Anything but that.

"Dude. If someone else did this, I will scream." Alfred spoke up, "Literally."

"That would almost be worth hearing." Antonio muttered, staring at the stage with a dazed look on his face. Probably could have chosen a better choice of words, but still, he had never heard Alfred scream before. Unless it was at a horror movie.

"Today is the day after, two of you know as the greatest prank ever to pull on this school. For me, it is the day after the most ridiculous prank ever to be pulled on this school." Mr. Smith said, the annoyance showing quite visibly in his voice and face.

Antonio smiled slightly. That started this assembly out good. It made both himself and Alfred smile.

"Two of you…" Roderich said (quite calmly, surprisingly) before turning his head to look at the three sitting beside him (since Roderich was sitting the farthest to the right). "So which of you decided to play hero?"

'_Only one person I know would ever "play hero"'_ Antonio thought, resisting the urge to laugh. It was rather obvious Roderich knew who one of the people was even before asking.

"Not me. I was stuck in the bathroom." Cruz said instantly. And yet he wasn't there when Alfred and Antonio had gone down after the office fiasco was over. That's interesting. Where was he at then?

"His idea." Antonio automatically pointed at Alfred when Roderich's gaze turned to him, "Not mine. I was protesting the whole way." Honest.

"Totally saved your school records!" Alfred grinned.

"Thanks. A lot." Cruz grumbled, "Not like it could have possibly gotten any worse." _'Actually it probably could have. Let's see you two think up some quick excuses like we did.'_ Antonio smiled inwardly and went back to watching the stage, ignoring the insult Roderich gave them shortly after.

"Idiots." Roderich shook his head.

"But this prank was one of the most well-thought out that I have ever seen. Yesterday I had seven people down in my office, including a teacher, for acting out during class. Yesterday, I had seven reasons to believe that finally something happened in this school that promoted a positive change." Mr. Smith (_'didn't even know he could')_ smiled a bit and turned his head back and forth to look around the auditorium, "And so, today, we have four guest speakers to talk to all of you." Mr. Smith looked offstage to his right.

"Four?" Alfred whispered, "We have to sit through four speakers? How many classes do you think we're going to miss here?"

"Who knows." Roderich sighed.

"Who cares." Cruz grumbled. Antonio had to agree with Cruz on this one. He would rather sit through a guest speaker (as long as it's not the one from the first assembly) than go to class and fail another test.

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.

"If the first speaker would come out…" Mr. Smith called over to them.

Lovino watched as Matthew swayed in one spot before finally heading for the stage.

"Wah…" Matthew whimpered, "Butterflies in my stomach."

"Good luck!" Gilbert called quietly.

Lovino raised one eyebrow as he watched Matthew walk along the back of the stage, staying out of the lights so the audience couldn't tell who he was. _'Well then. That looks good to me. I'm not arguing with that.'_

"Oh he's cheating." Gilbert laughed.

"No one said we had to remain _in sight." _Arthur commented.

"Fine then. Apparently I'm moving the microphone." Mr. Smith spoke into the mic again, after a brief exchange of words with Matthew, "One moment." He picked up the mic stand and walked back to where Matthew was standing and put the microphone stand in front of him, "This speaker, is one who attended this school before, and wishes to speak out against the everyday behavior he noticed while being here."

'_Oh he already had something planned to say. Well isn't that just good for him. Must be nice to come up with something on the spot. That or he was thinking about this ever since yesterday.'_ Lovino sighed. He wished he had been thinking up something to say instead of just talking out loud. He might be better off this morning if he had.

Matthew remained quiet for a minute or two before finally speaking, "Um…so Mr. Smith said why I was here, and to tell you the truth, I'm beginning to realize that maybe over the last couple days while I was thinking about this, that maybe I was the one misunderstanding what other people were trying to do…"

Lovino nodded in silent agreement. He was agreeing with Matthew one hundred percent already.

"But at the time, I felt as though it was the most difficult thing that I would face. Getting up for school was not something I looked forward to every morning. It was something I dreaded. I absolutely detest gym class, because for some reason we can't play touch-tackle instead of full-out-push-the-other-person's-face-in-the-mud-tackle." Matthew continued talking, Lovino tilted his head slightly. There weren't any speakers back here, and it made it difficult to hear him, especially since Matthew's voice was getting quieter as he went.

"Going to every class in the hallway by myself, and getting knocked into like we're playing bumper cars. Seriously, you all can slow down a bit…" Matthew sighed.

Lovino scoffed. Another point in Matthew's speech that he agreed on. Good. At this rate, he would only have to mumble his apology and book it off the stage.

"Just stay over there why don't you?" Matthew called to the principal, who was walking away from the blonde laughing for the second time now.

"But while I was thinking about everything I didn't like about school…I also remembered what I did like about it. I loved seeing my friends every day. I enjoyed talking to them, and the school lunches, despite the complaints, they could be much, much worse. You could be somewhere else and drink an entire bottle of gravy under the mistaken belief it's fruit juice." Matthew, at this point, leaned forward to look in their direction.

Arthur gaped at Matthew, "That was gravy? Are you kidding me?"

Lovino's jaw dropped at this point. _'That was gravy? I drank a fricking bottle of GRAVY?'_ He turned his head to Gilbert, who was doubled over laughing. They knew. They knew and didn't say anything!

"You…" Arthur raised his hand to hit Gilbert over the head, hand shaking as if he was trying to restrain himself from doing so, "You stupid git!"

"I can't believe he said that~" Gilbert laughed, "Mattie is awesome!" He shielded his head with his arms to prevent the possible incoming attack.

Arthur scowled and turned to the stage again, dropping his hand without hitting Gilbert, "I don't believe this."

'_Neither do I.'_ Lovino scowled at Gilbert, who started laughing again, before returning his attention to the stage.

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Antonio sat, listening to what the speaker was saying. At least this speaker was much better than the first one they had. This guy kept them laughing a bit. Especially with that last comment. Except it made Antonio wince.

"What?" Alfred gaped, "What kind of horrible place was this?"

"Oh my word. A bottle of gravy?" Antonio shuddered, he could only _imagine_ what that tasted like, "UGH!" And to think it was fruit juice? What kind of place was this?

"That sounds like the lunches are an unspeakable horror." Roderich commented.

"This person sounds really familiar." Cruz stated flatly.

"Oh? Do you know who it is?" Roderich asked, leaning forward to look over at Cruz.

Antonio blinked and looked over at Cruz. Seriously?

"Yeah and if it is who I think it is, I am going to KILL THEM." Cruz scowled.

Antonio's eyes widened and he quickly sat back again. Cruz was certainly intimidating when he wanted to be, and more often than not: when he didn't want to be. That was just a reputation the guy had. _'Punch a few lights out and you'll find yourself being left alone real fast.'_

"Bad Cruz is back." Alfred laughed, completely agreeing with Antonio even though the two hadn't looked at each other at all.

"Shut up." Cruz hit Alfred over the back of the head, still scowling.

"Ow!" Alfred yelped, "That hurt!"

Antonio sighed and shook his head. Beside him, Roderich was doing the same thing. Antonio would have laughed at this point, but the speaker was going on again.

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.

"So the lunches here really aren't all that much to complain about. They're edible at least. It's something to look forward to when you all get up in the morning." Matthew continued on.

"Was the food that bad?" Mr. Smith asked, Lovino noticed he had returned to his spot near where Matthew was standing again.

"Well I know there is certainly a member of the audience who would have been outraged at what they called a hamburger." Matthew responded. He leaned forward again, this time more than likely looking at Arthur.

Lovino watched as Arthur doubled over laughing. That comment was obviously made for Alfred.

.

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"Okay, how do you mess up a hamburger, really?" Alfred protested, "I want to see this!"

"No, I'm pretty sure you don't." Antonio cut him off, "If they're saying someone would be outraged at seeing this thing, then it's probably a good thing you don't know where this place is, or the atrocity of the meals they're serving."

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"Ja, I'm sure people will know who we are, quite obvious." Gilbert smirked.

"Oh, great. So he's going to know who it is before I even hit the stage." Lovino scoffed, referring to Antonio as 'him', "That just helps the nervousness a bit. Thanks."

"No problem~" Gilbert laughed, causing Lovino to glare and scowl at the taller person to his right.

"That sounds appetizing." Mr. Smith commented in response to Matthew, dryly.

"Imagine eating it." Matthew responded, "Anyway…there were some things coming to school that I didn't even realize I was looking forward to until I realized I couldn't come here any more. Even though the teachers have a monotone voice when they're talking…eh…no offense…"

"The teachers back at the other facility are even worse…"Arthur grumbled.

Lovino instantly started nodding in response to what Arthur said. _'Especially grandpa.'_

"They really were putting us at their best interest, and trying to teach in a way they thought we would learn the subjects…even though we're never going to use it again. Unless we become a teacher of course. But that's a little redundant." Matthew looked over again as Mr. Smith walked away laughing again, "Seriously, just stay over there."

Lovino was agreeing with that and it wasn't even part of the speech! Why didn't the principal just stay away if he knew he was going to laugh.

Matthew let out an audible sight at the point, but kept talking, "But I didn't realize all of this then. I only saw what was upsetting me, and I didn't have the courage or strength to go to the guidance office, or to talk to my best friend about it. So I kept quiet. And that was probably the worst mistake I will ever make in my entire life."

"Hey, he's doing a really good job with this." Gilbert commented, "Seriously."

'_Gilbert is being serious?'_ Lovino tilted his head slightly, but had to agree with him anyway. Matthew was doing a good job. He would probably do better as a teacher than most of the others who walked off with their degree in that field.

"Yeah he is." Arthur agreed, "And he's covering most of the things we had to talk about, so that'll just make our speeches shorter."

"Thank you." Lovino whispered, feeling a great wave of relief flooding over him.

"I know the assembly you all had on teenage suicide was hard to sit through. The speaker wasn't very…considerate about how he was talking. And there really wasn't much else to be done except react on it, and…everyone did just that. We all react differently to different situations. That's how I got where I was at for the past…almost a week."

Lovino blinked. Had it really been almost a week? It felt even longer. Lovino tilted his head again, wondering how long it had felt to those who had still been here.

"Maybe it was my fault for overreacting, but looking back at what I realized the past week…I wouldn't change anything if I had the chance to. Because this is probably the only way I would have learned what I have."

Lovino nodded. That was a decent way to end the speech even. Matthew really had done a good job with that. And he saved them the horror of having to speak through most of it. Even better.

"Next speaker?" Mr. Smith called.

Arthur sighed and made his way along the back of the stage, taking the microphone from the principal. Instead of facing the audience however, he looked at Matthew instead, "Thank you for telling me about the gravy _after_ I drank it. I was sick because of that."

"No problem~" Matthew smiled.

'_Oh yeah. He did get sick in the class right after that, too.'_ Lovino blinked.

Arthur looked out towards the seats in front of him before speaking again, "Well the first speaker pretty much summarized what we all have been thinking the past few days. But seeing as how we're forced to speak…" Arthur glanced back at the principal at this point before turning front again, "Here we all have to stand, and you all have to sit there through this. My sincerest apologies."

.

.

"At least someone's apologizing for it." Roderich commented, "A speaker with manners. What a novel concept."

Antonio made a face. What kind of speaker apologized _before_ speaking? The first speaker made it sound as if he was directing it at certain people while he was talking. This was probably going to be another one of those speakers. Well as long as it wasn't directed at him.

"Yeah anyway." Alfred laughed, "How nice!"

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.

"I'm sure most of you would rather be in class right now. Some of you would rather be at home sleeping." Arthur continued on, "And after listening to basically the same startup to a speech five days ago, I have to admit, I would much rather be here than anywhere else. And if anyone here ever has to take an emotional aptitude test, LIE." Arthur snapped, "Don't answer that thing honestly."

"Don't listen to that." Mr. Smith cut in, rather hastily, "I will take that soon." Lovino had to guess he was referring to the microphone. Nothing else he really could take.

"You would be doing me a favor." Arthur responded before proceeding, "So, the first speaker said it, where we were at was much worse than here I guarantee it. Though I notice you left out the wonderful sleeping arrangements." Arthur looked back over his shoulder at where Matthew was.

"That only qualifies if someone was actually sleeping." Matthew responded.

"This is true." Arthur turned around again, "Apparently I'm the only one who got any sleep." Arthur shrugged.

"That's because you were the only one who got sleep!" Gilbert snapped, still beside Lovino.

Lovino nodded, "Yeah. Because someone above me kept tossing and turning and shaking the whole damn thing."

"I know. Vati was laying beneath me in the room at one point. I felt it move when he did. Thank you for reminding me of that unpleasant memory." Gilbert grumbled.

"My _sincerest_ apologies." Lovino retorted, though not at all sorry.

.

.

Antonio couldn't suppress the chuckle that came out. Inedible food, horrid teachers, and awful sleeping arrangements. That sounded like a boarding school in the most awful place imaginable.

.

.

"But he was right. There are so many things at this school to look forward to, aside from gym class, I share his opinion on that. And the hallways, some people really do need to slow down, it's a school not a bloody racetrack." Arthur added.

Gilbert leaned over, "Did he just shudder?"

"You saw it too." Lovino agreed, nodding, "I think I saw him look out at someone in the audience. Maybe he saw someone?"

"Maybe he saw his brothers." Gilbert snickered.

"I pity him if he did." Lovino forced a smile, "I'm just going to focus on the WALL when I'm out there."

Gilbert laughed in response to this.

"But the reason I stopped coming to this school, I realized, it wasn't worth getting myself depressed over. It's just one person out of countless more in the world, and as much as I do NOT want to admit it, my family is there, whether I like it or not." Arthur sighed

Lovino raised an eyebrow at seeing Matthew walk away laughing.

Arthur seemed to notice this as well, because the next comment was at Matthew, "Like you should be laughing over there. You have the most over protective brother I have ever met in my life."

Lovino started laughing uncontrollably in response to that. If some dense person hadn't realized who Arthur and Matthew were by now, they had to have after that comment!

"So I'm rather glad I got the opportunity to attend somewhere else. There were classes there that opened my eyes, one in particular, but I refuse to comment on it. I'm still rejecting half the things they said." Arthur grumbled, "And I also discovered that there are people in this school…who will contact someone by phone. No matter what time it is, no matter what the situation, they will call your cell phone. And they will leave a voicemail message that's over five minutes long."

Gilbert burst out laughing and had to walk away before the principal heard his loud laughter. Lovino quickly put a hand over his own mouth to prevent the laughing from coming out. Now they definitely knew.

.

.

Alfred's face turned dark red and he instantly sunk in his seat, knees dropping off the back of the seat in front of him.

"Do you know who this speaker is?" Cruz leaned over the armrest in between them.

"Oh shut up." Alfred sunk lower in his seat.

Antonio sighed and patted Alfred comfortingly on the back. It was rather obvious at this point who this speaker was. And since he had said "overprotective brother" it made it rather obvious who the first one was as well.

.

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Arthur shook his head and (Lovino could have sworn he saw him smile) lifted his head to look at the audience once more, "But. I will thank that person anyway. Because without that voicemail, I wouldn't have realized the few things that I did." Arthur turned and held the microphone to the principal.

Lovino started making his way out along the back of the stage, watching as Matthew took the microphone instead, "Do not anger him when there's a yardstick within grabbing distance. He knows how to use one." Matthew said flatly.

"Thank you for that." Arthur hit Matthew over the head and handed the mic to the principal, scowling at Matthew.

"Not even going to ask. Third speaker?" Mr. Smith sighed, before noticing that Lovino was already coming over.

"Eh. It's okay. It's safe." Matthew called over when Lovino had reached them.

"Shut it." Lovino hissed quietly, glowering at Matthew and Arthur before grabbing the mic, "Okay, so I don't have much to say in addition to the first two who spoke up." He knew he was talking fast but he desperately wanted to get this over with, "But I will say, thanks to a relative who I can see already" Lovino sighed, he really hadn't wanted to spot his parents and grandfather (who he really had not been expecting to see here), "…that I am, unfortunately, grateful for the class he was teaching yesterday. Despite it being annoyingly long, I did learn something out of it, besides insults that I could use against him. The way you all reacted to that assembly, none of you did anything wrong." Lovino saw his grandfather nodding in agreement and made a mental note to hit him over the head as well.

"I know some of you were laughing, and it really did make it sound like you were laughing at those who were suffering from depression, but you weren't. And I realize that now." Lovino sighed, he had spotted where Antonio was sitting and saw him instantly react to what he had said, "You all react the way you were taught to. Some of you laugh off situations that would otherwise make you feel uncomfortable or down…and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. Just…let people know around you that you're not laughing at them. Otherwise there's going to be someone out there that's going to blow it entirely out of proportion. Much like I did.".

.

Antonio blinked in surprise. His eyes had widened after what was just said. _'Lovi? It's totally Lovi!'_ Antonio felt a sudden burst of excitement coming over him, and he desperately wanted to run from the auditorium and to the backstage area. He bounced in his seat slightly, forcing himself to stay there. _'Loviiiiiiii~'_

.

.

"The situation was what it was…none of you did anything wrong in responding to it. The speaker really did fail at some points in explaining, and that is why we're up here." Lovino looked back at where Matthew and Arthur were standing, "But at least we made some new friends out of this." He smiled slightly at seeing them both nod in agreement.

"Have fun with the next speaker." Lovino said flatly, and handed off the mic to the principal. _'Done. Done, done, done, done, done!'_ He stood next to Arthur and Matthew, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. Shortest and fastest speech no doubt, but he really did not like public speaking!

"Of course he would be last." The principal (obviously) forced a smile, "Last speaker…don't make me regret this."

Lovino smiled as Gilbert skipped over next to the principal, staying in the shadows as well.

"Ja, ja. Whatever. Gimme." Gilbert smirked and held out his hand for the microphone.

Lovino shook his head. He was going to make the principal regret it already, but it was making the audience laugh in response to the exchange of words.

"I mean it." Mr. Smith growled and handed Gilbert the microphone before stepping back next to Lovino.

"Boy. Some people are stiff." Gilbert scoffed at the principal (Lovino had to laugh at that, Gilbert was starting to call a lot of people stiff) and held the microphone up, "Ja, so we got to spend our time in the most boring place imaginable. I don't think I learned a single thing by attending any of the classes. And I certainly didn't learn anything at the lunch, though I know two other people learned how to read." Gilbert looked back at Arthur and Lovino.

Lovino scowled at Gilbert. He would have thrown something at him if he had something _to_ throw.

"I shall call you the gravy-drinker duo." Gilbert smirked at Arthur and Lovino ("Don't you dare." Lovino growled quietly) and turned back to the audience, "But ja, despite all complaints about the totally inedible food, the annoying person who completely FAILED at being a counselor, I learned something anyway~"

Lovino started laughing when he heard his grandfather yell "HOW RUDE!" loud enough to be heard up on the stage. He could still see the male from where he was standing at, and the obvious (fake) hurt look on his face. Oh. They must know each other. They're sitting side by side. Grandpa and Big…er…Stiff. I don't know his name, do I? Lovino tilted his head, suddenly wondering if he had ever heard Gilbert's father's name.

"I didn't even say it was you, shut up." Gilbert looked over towards Roma, causing Lovino (as well as Arthur and Matthew) to start laughing again.

"Oh my word." Mr. Smith slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead, "I knew I was going to regret this."

Gilbert glared at the principal, "You wanted us to speak. Be careful what you wish for." He looked back and held the microphone up again.

"Clearly a mistake on my part." The principal sighed heavily.

Gilbert stuck his tongue out at the principal before continuing on, "Ja, so really I didn't learn a single thing from that crap place we were at, other than there are totally three awesome people I've never spoken to at school behind me now~" Gilbert flashed a grin back at Arthur, Matthew and Lovino before looking front again, "And those beds suck there, but that's besides the point."

.

.

'_Again with the beds. And this is so obviously Gilbert.'_ Antonio continued to watch the stage, feeling somewhat in shock because of what was happening in front of them. Their friends were alive. The whole time. What the heck. Where have they been, besides some unspeakable horrific place that couldn't even serve decent food.

.

.

"Two nights ago was it? The night we didn't get any sleep whatsoever anyway. Ja, we had the most wonderful wake-up call, und I mean totally rude wake-up call when I say that. The most unappealing breakfast I have ever seen, I think the only thing edible was the sausage, the eggs probably were never from a bird at any point during their fake substitute lifetime." Gilbert scoffed and continued talking.

"Und after breakfast, as if it wasn't already downhill enough, I see you rolling your eyes, Mr. Stiff. You know what's coming." Gilbert called over to his father (who was obviously NOT happy judging by the frown on his face), "I get a call to go to a conference room that I have absolutely no clue where it's at. And of course the hall monitor insisted on taking me down there herself, I don't know why, she could have just given me directions. Und for the first time in sixteen-completely-blissful-nothing-wrong-with-them years, I got to meet my huge stiff of a dad."

Lovino quietly shook his head in disbelief, but was laughing anyway. Clearly of the four of them, only Gilbert could get away with insulting his dad.

"I see you glaring by the way. Apparently that half of the family doesn't know how to have fun. Big Stiff und Little Stiff, and so help me if I hear that comment about Little Stiff being taller than me again." Gilbert grumbled.

Lovino walked a little ways away laughing at this point, knowing full well who Little Stiff was. It was rather obvious that Ludwig was taller than Gilbert.

.

.

"Hm. I think that was directed at me." Roderich commented, still quite calm, despite it being obvious (at least to Antonio) who the people on stage were.

"Is this for real?" Alfred asked.

"If it is, I'm running for the stage door after this." Antonio grumbled, sinking in his seat. It was getting _really_ hard to stay in his seat. If it wasn't for Alfred and Cruz sitting closer to the aisle than he was, he would already be gone, which is probably why Roderich was now holding Antonio's arm down on the armrest.

Antonio stuck his tongue out at Roderich, who raised an eyebrow at Antonio in response. _'Yeah. As if you don't know why I'm making a face at you.'_

.

.

"And despite all thoughts of absolutely not wanting to see the guy, I have to admit, it was _slightly_ nice to know that he had been looking for us all along. Even if I already knew that from overhearing a conversation in the hallway at school. Don't look so shocked, mutti." Gilbert waved towards the left side of the auditorium (must have been at the silver-haired female sitting next to Big Stiff), "And despite the sarcastic conversation we had going back and forth, including some thoughts where I wanted to him with my metaphorical shovel…"

Lovino struggled to refrain from laughing at (should really learn his name) Big Stiff's outburst of "HOW RUDE!"

"Same to you." Gilbert retorted, "Anyway despite all that, it was nice to actually hold a conversation with him. And get the permanent look of shock off your face or I _will_ hit you with something physical." Gilbert snapped.

Lovino smiled slightly. The look that had been briefly on the male's face obviously was not one of shock, and Gilbert was probably well aware of that.

"Und Big Stiff obviously doesn't listen to anything someone says, because despite my saying NO, loud and clear, und that I liked my life just the way it was, I still wake up in a hospital several hours later." Gilbert continued talking, "So thanks to the completely unawesome-blank-faced-stiff-with-no-emotion-whatsoever, turns out I'm not going to be leaving this place early after all."

Lovino quickly held a hand over his mouth to prevent laughing out loud at the face that Gilbert was now getting.

"That's the face I was talking about." Gilbert started laughing, pointing over to him, "Much better. Anyway, I'm done now." He looked back at the principal, grinning.

Lovino looked on rather startled as Matthew walked by and took the microphone from Gilbert, who looked rather surprised, as did the principal, "Eh. One last thing."

Oh no. Please let me keep my dignity at least a little bit. Lovino moaned and buried his face in his hands. Damn it. He thought he was going to able to get off stage without saying who he was.

"I know there are quite a few people who realized who we are already, mostly from accents I'm sure." Matthew looked back rather pointedly at Arthur and Gilbert.

"Mine included." Matthew added softly and turned back front, "But, for those of you who haven't realized it yet…" He sighed and stepped forward a couple paces, "Four days ago I faked my own death in the Mission for Change, my name is Matthew Williams." He looked back at the others, now standing in full light. Lovino's shoulders sagged. Damn it.

Arthur sighed and stepped forward, taking the microphone from Matthew, "My name is Arthur Kirkland, I committed suicide for the Mission for Change." He held the microphone behind his right shoulder for Lovino.

Lovino stepped forwards, grabbing the mic and absolutely REFUSED to look over at where Antonio was sitting, "Four stupidly-long-days-ago, I committed suicide for the mission for change. Lovino Vargas." He handed the microphone off to Gilbert, who bounced forward grinning.

"Ja, My name is Gilbert Beilschmidt, I pretended to die an early death in the Mission for Change." Gilbert looked over at the principal who was nodding (quite solemnly with a smile), and held up the mic grinning, "But we are back again, TA-DA~"

Lovino doubled over laughing at Gilbert raising his arms above his head with a huge smile.

"How did I guess you were going to say something like that." Mr. Smith stepped forward and grabbed the microphone from Gilbert, glaring at the albino.

"You know me too well~" Gilbert laughed, "You're totally buying my lunch now, right?" He looked over at Arthur.

"Yes, yes." Arthur nodded. He was smiling until he looked offstage to someone in the audience, then a sudden look of panic came on his face.

"I'm out of here!" Lovino hissed, suddenly desperate to get off the stage and away from the (still in shock) faces that were staring at them.

Lovino dashed off stage, right behind Matthew. He could hear the hurried footsteps behind him and was correct in assuming they were Arthur, as he heard Arthur's voice behind him the instant they stepped in to the back room.

"I can't believe that!" Arthur started laughing, "You actually said it!"

"Ja, of course." Gilbert smirked, having quite calmly left the stage (if you can count skipping as being calm), "Principal doesn't like me already~"

Lovino sighed in quiet relief, "It's over…" Finally!

"Eh. We still have to make it through school today." Matthew looked over at Lovino.

"Damn it." Lovino grumbled. A whole day of school while being stared at. Terrific.

"Well that turned out rather well." Arthur smiled as Gilbert wandered out into the hall as well, but not before grabbing his wall scroll off the table.

Lovino heard laughing and smiled at Arthur, "You can go out next." Lovino stated, pointing to the door. He grabbed his own wall scroll, which was the last one remaining on the table (Arthur must have picked his up earlier).

"Hm? Why don't you want to…" Arthur wandered out the doorway and into the hall. "OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

Lovino watched as Arthur was tackled by Alfred. Saw that one coming. He had heard Gilbert laughing and had assumed something had happened with Matthew.

"IGGY~" Alfred cheered, now tightly holding onto Arthur.

"FOUR." Arthur got an arm free and hit Alfred four times over the head, "DO NOT CALL ME THAT! AND I AM NOT CUTE DAMN IT!" Arthur growled, as he could feel his face burning in even more embarrassment.

"Owwww~ You were seriously keeping track!" Alfred cried.

Lovino stepped out into the hall, feeling somewhat relieved to put more distance between himself and the stage.

"Eh…Lovino…"

"Hm?" Lovino looked over and saw Matthew was being held tightly in a hug-embrace by Cruz, only to feel someone latching onto him not even a second later. "GET OFF OF ME!" Lovino yelled, his face burning.

"Loviiiii! I missed you so much~" Antonio didn't let go and proceeded to rub his cheek against the top of Lovino's head.

"D-damn it…" Lovino pushed himself away and started smacking Antonio, "Don't do that!"

"Ahahaha~ Lovi's really angry~" Antonio dodged the last two smacks and hurried down the hall away from him. Lovino chased after, "Get back here you stupid Spanish bastard!"

"Just like old times!" Antonio continued laughing. How he could run and laugh at the same time without tripping over _something_ was completely beyond Lovino's understanding at the moment.

Lovino scowled and continued to chase after him, but stopped when Antonio promptly ran into Ludwig and Feliciano, "…nice sense of direction, idiot."

"Owwww~ At least give some warning when you see someone coming towards you!" Antonio pouted, rubbing the top off his head.

Lovino tilted his head, something seemed off here. Antonio actually seemed rather…nervous in front of both of them. Did something happen?

"Ve~ Lovino!" Feliciano recovered from being knocked into and promptly hugged Lovino, "I missed you!"

"Ugh. Get off. Enough with the hugging already…" Lovino sighed and tried to push his younger brother off of him. He froze when he saw Roma skipping up the hallway. _'Damn it! Here he comes!'_

Antonio smiled cheerfully, turning away from Ludwig, "Lunch time is going to go back to normal now~"

"If I make it that long." Lovino grumbled, finally succeeding in getting Feliciano off of him, mostly thanks to Ludwig coming forward a couple paces and tugging Feliciano off.

"Lovi can make it!" Roma instantly hugged Lovino.

"YOU JUST SAW ME YESTERDAY!" Lovino yelled, kicking Roma as hard as he could in the leg.

"Grandpa Roma!" Feliciano perked up, "I haven't seen you in forever!"

Lovino resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and attempted to get out of the hug instead. Conversation hijacking was something Feliciano was good at, even though he didn't mean to.

"I've been busy with work~" Roma responded, resting his chin on the top of Lovino's head.

"Hm…really? I recall someone saying you were a failure as a counselor…" Lovino pretended to look thoughtful for a moment, "Now who was that?"

Antonio started laughing.

"He's meeeeean!" Roma pouted, "Seriously, I was trying to help! And he killed off any conversation before…oh hi Regis~" The pout was instantly replaced with a smile.

Lovino turned his head to see Blank faced…er…Regis coming towards them.

"Hallo Failure Counselor." Regis responded.

"You two are meeeean…" Roma pouted again.

"Ve? You two know each other?" Feliciano looked back and forth between the two. There went the conversation hijacking again. Should start putting warning signs up.

"We've met in school and keep running into each other~" Roma smiled cheerfully.

Lovino could have sworn he heard a distinct "unfortunately…" coming from Regis, and judging by the look of discomfort that now went on Ludwig's face, he probably heard correctly.

"I'm going to find your brother." Regis looked at Ludwig.

"Ach, I'll come with." Ludwig followed along behind Regis and walked away, but he smiled at Lovino as he went by.

Lovino forced a smile in response and tried struggling to get out of his grandfather's grip again. Still not working.

"Luddy has a brother?" Feliciano blinked.

"Gilbert." Roma tilted his head, "You didn't know that?"

"That would probably require Ludwig having known that before this morning." Lovino responded.

"Oh this is true~" Roma nodded, Lovino could feel his chin bouncing on the top of his head.

"Do you mind letting go?" Lovino grumbled.

Antonio smiled cheerfully, "But Lovi is loved~"

"A lot!" Feliciano cheered and instantly latched onto Lovino and Roma.

"HEY!" Lovino yelped, "I didn't ask to be sandwiched!" Unfortunately Antonio joined and made it a group hug, "Stupid Spanish bastard."

Antonio grinned and kissed Lovino on the cheek, "Happy to see you, too, Lovi~"

Lovino felt his face turning red and cursed under his breath, "Seriously, you people need to let go!"

.

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><p>Sorry about the longness! 8D Yay! The last chapter of Lovino style is done now~! And I included how Roma and Regis knew each other, a bonus for the person who asked. XD Leave me a final review? (you'll notice if you read awesome style there's more interaction between Antonio and Roderich; I did this because I can. XD ) ; w ;<p>


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